New Allies
by FunnelVortex
Summary: Takes place shortly after the events of Episode 4: A New Hope. While scouting for a new planet to set up a Rebel base, Rogue Squadron crash lands on a remote and previously unexplored planet. Luke soon finds out that the planet is under the control of a tyrannical dictator, and aiding a local resistance group may be his only chance to survive.
1. Opening Crawl

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...

** STAR WARS**

NEW ALLIES

Victory! The Rebel Alliance has destroyed the  
Death Star; their first true triumph over the  
evil Galactic Empire. Celebration was short lived  
as the Empire seeks vengeance for the loss of  
their prized battlestation.

As the Imperial starfleet closes in on the Rebel  
Forces, a scout team with the legendary Luke  
Skywalker was dispatched into the stars in search  
of a planet to set up a new foothold.

However, Luke was distracted by a strange  
transmission originating from M0B-1uS, an  
unexplored planet on the border of the Unknown  
Regions and Wild Space.

It is unknown to what they will find, but the planet  
may make a new base for the Alliance to continue  
their quest to restore freedom to the Galaxy...


	2. Ambush

Four X-Wing starfighters soared through hyperspace. Their pilots looked around at the familiar sight of a tunnel of light that seemed to speed by them. They also communicated with each other over their ship-to-ship radios to pass the time of the long flight.

Even though they were clocking at thousands of times past lightspeed, the Galaxy was vast, and trips could still take hours or days to make. Not to mention they were also heading deep into unexplored parts of the Galaxy.

"This is Red Leader," said Luke over the radios, "what are your statuses?"

"Hey, Luke!" Wedge answered back, "we haven't heard you speak since we left the ship. I think a better question is what your status is."

"I'm fine..." said Luke under his voice.

"Luke, we have known eachother for some time now," said Wedge, "and I've come to know you. I can tell when something is eating you."

"It's nothing," said Luke, "really nothing. I just feel a little odd... I've felt odd since Ben died..."

"Perhaps it's just grief?" Wedge suggested, "He was close to you, after all."

"Right," said Luke, "Can we talk about it later? We should keep focused on the mission."

"As you wish," said Wedge.

Rogue Squadron was the most elite group of pilots in the Rebel forces. Upon receiving a strange transmission from the uncharted, unexplored regions of the Galaxy, four members of Rogue Squadron were assigned to locate the source. The four pilots were Wes Janson, Wedge Antilles, Zev Senesca, and Luke Skywalker.

It was a dangerous task to travel into unexplored territory, although Rogue Squadron were often seen as daredevils who would accept any task, including the current one.

The X-Wings continued their flight through hyperspace. The men continued to converse with one another, having small talk and trying to guess at what they would find once they exited hyperspace. Luke heard the chat over his radio, but he had already resumed to being silent.

Luke then heard R2D2's beeps as a translation showed up on the display in his cockpit.

"My guess is good as yours, R2," said Luke, "I don't know where we are going."

The astromech gave a reply beep. Luke could see the radio light in his cockpit come on, indicating the other members of Rogue Squadron were trying to communicate with him again.

"Come in, Red Leader. Come in!" said someone through his radio. Luke pressed the button to activate the microphone in his cockpit.

"Yes, Wes?" said Luke, "what is it?"

"Sir," said Wes, "We've lost communication with the ship."

"I see," said Luke, "Its probably just because we are in hyperspace."

"Probably," replied Wes, "but to me, it says we are too far out."

"We still have a mission to do," said Luke.

"But sir," Wes protested, "We have been in hyperspace for hours, and our navicomputers are starting to get confused. It seems we are in uncharted territory. Should we abort?"

"Negative," said Luke, "From what I have learned from Han, instinct can be your tool for navigation if computers fail. And also luck."

"In all due respect sir," said Wes, "The signal could just be a supernova, black hole, pulsar, or maybe even a fluke. I don't see the need to take the risks to find something that probably doesn't exist."

"Yeah, I agree," Zev cut in, "nobody is out this far. Whatever the signal was, it is probably not worth our time."

"I don't know," said Luke, "but I can just... Feel something"

"Probably your imagination, kid," said Zev.

The navicomputer then began to make a beeping noise indicating that they were approaching their destination.

"Wait," said Luke, "prepare to exit hyperspace!"

"Roger that," repeated the members of the Rogue Suadron.

Upon getting the signal, they all simultaneously pulled the switches causing them to leave hyperspace. The blue tunnel disappeared and the long streaks contracted back down into stars. Once they slowed back to sublight speed, they were greeted by a blue-green planet orbited by a single moon.

"Well I'll be..." said Wes upon seeing the planet, "You think that's where the signal came from?"

"I don't know," said Luke.

Rogue Squadron continued to approach the planet. While on their approach, Luke requested Wedge to pull up a data file on it.

"Im not finding anything, Luke," said Wedge, "there's no data file or record of that planet at all!"

"Then run your scanners, Wedge," said Luke, "I want information on that planet ASAP."

"Where the hell are we?!" asked Zev.

"That's what we are trying to find out," said Luke.

The X-wings kept their approach to the mysterious planet. Once they got close enough, they could tell it was a terrestrial planet, and had large bodies of liquid water on it's surface. They entered orbit around the planet as Wedge ran his scanners.

"Luke," said Wedge, "My scanners are telling me the planet is 12,742 kilometers in diameter. It is also covered around 70% with water and has a breathable atmosphere rich in oxygen and nitrogen."

"What else?" Luke asked, "any signs of life?"

"It looks like life does exist on the surface," said Wedge, "However, I am detecting large amounts of pollution in the atmosphere. There is also evidence of heavy exploitation of it's natural resources. In addition, there are only a few active sites and only one active major city on the entire surface."

"Sounds like an Imperial mining colony to me," said Wes, "I think it's a trap."

"No, I don't think its Imperials," said Wedge, "The Empire doesn't go this far into the Unknown Reigons. Besides, there would be star destroyers on patrol if this was an imperial mining operation."

"What could it be then?" asked Zev.

"Come on, let's check it out!" said Luke.

"Roger that," replied Zev.

Rouge Squadron circled around to the nighttime side of the planet to begin their descent. The pilots enabled their heat shielding before descending through the planet's atmosphere. From the ground, the starfighters entering the atmosphere would like meteors streaking through the night sky.

After descending through the atmopshere, Rogue Squadron was now gliding over. The planet's moon shone brightly in the night sky over them, reflecting off the clouds.

"Got a visual on the surface, Wedge?" asked Luke.

"Negative," said Wedge, "I can't see through the cloud layer. Even if I could, it's way too dark."

"We should get down lower then," Luke suggested.

"Good idea," said Wedge, "come on, Rouge Squadron. We are going below the clouds."

Rogue Squadron descended below the cloud layer. Even under the clouds, it was still too dark to make out many details, but they could still make out basic features. They could make out mountains and hills, and could tell that they were over a forest of some kind.

There were no signs any civilization yet, but the members of Rogue Squadron kept on the lookout.

"See anything now?" asked Luke.

"Negative, Red Leader," replied Wes, "I can't make out anything except for a bunch of trees. We are over one big forest."

Then suddenly, R2 began to whine. The translation of his binary whine was displayed in Luke's cockpit.

"What do you mean you have a bad feeling about this?" Luke asked R2.

"Luke, what is going on?" asked Wedge.

"R2 said he is detecting movements closing in from the east," said Luke, "he is also detecting signs of Artificial Intelligence. See if you can find something on your scanner, Wedge."

"I'm on it," said Wedge.

Wedge opened the display on the screen in his cockpit. He started a continuous radar scan of the surrounding area. He saw several blips appear on the radar. The blips were moving toward his location at high velocity.

"There are several airborne objects closing in from the east at high velocity," said Wedge, confirming R2's warning, "and I don't think they are here to give us a warm welcome."

"What are they?" asked Zev, "Are they imperial scouting droids?"

R2 beeped.

"R2 doesn't think they are imperial," said Luke, "he doesn't recognize them."

"Then what are they?" asked wedge over Luke's radio, "they...ial...roi...wha..."

"Wedge, I'm losing you!" said Luke.

Luke's radio then cut to static. Luke struggled to get his communications back online, but failed with every attempt.

"Damn," is all Luke could say.

R2 whined.

"Yeah, I don't like this either, R2," replied Luke, "I think something is interfering with our signals, try to see if you can tune in."

R2 worked the starfighter's communication systems in an attempt to tune into the interfering signal. He worked at it for a few seconds before he beeped again, telling Luke he had tuned into the interfering signal. Luke worked the dials in his cockpit to make the signal audible.

Luke heard a monotone voice from the mysterious crafts his radio.

_"Scanning for lifeforms,"_ said the monotone voice, _"Lifeforms confirmed. Hedgehog Status: Negative. Terminate!"_

"Hedgehog Status..?" Luke asked, "What is that?"

Even though he was confused by parts of the transmissions between the unidentified objects, Luke very well knew what the last part meant. Meanwhile, R2 was able to reestablish communications between the fighters of Rogue Squadron.

"Come in, Red Leader," said Wes, "Come in!"

"Wes!" said Luke, "we lost you for a minute!"

"Same here," replied Wes, "What happened?"

"Their transmissions with eachother jammed our signals," said Luke, "but R2 was able to intercept the signal."

"And what's the rundown?" Wes asked.

"We are going to have company," said Luke, "be on alert and set S-foils to attack..."

"LUKE," Wedge cut in, "They are right on top of us!"

A powerful laser blast from behind hit Wes' X-wing before he had time to react to the news.

"Luke, I'm hit!" cried Wes, "I am going down!"

Fire and smoke trailed behind Wes' X-wing as the starfighter lost altitude. Wes tried to remain in control of his fighter, but ultimatley lost control and crashed into the forest below.

The three remaining starfighters locked their S-foils into Attack position. They were under laser fire, already having suffered a casualty. The starfighters spread out and maneuvered around to engage their enemy.

Onice they had turned around to encounter their attackers, the remaining three members of Rogue Squadron saw a foe they had not encountered before. They were drones, but not imperial drones. These were far too primitive to be owned by the imperials, but were still dangerous enough to pose a threat.

The drones' numbers began to increase constantly. Luke lined up one in his sights and pulled the triggers on his joysticks. The guns on Luke's X-wing fired and mysterious drone exploded in a fiery blast; it's burning wreckage fell out of the sky.

"I shot it down in one hit," said Luke, "they don't have deflector shields."

"I don't think that matters," said Wedge, "there's too many of them anyways!"

"I have two on me!" said Zev.

"Hang on, Zev," said Wedge, "stay still and I'll pick them off."

Wedge lines the enemy drones in his sights. He aimed carefully, making sure he did not hit Zev. Once Wedge's line of fire was clear he fired several shots which picked off the two drones trailing Zev. Both the drones exploded upon being struck by the pulses of plasma emitted by the X-Wing's canons.

Wedge congratulated himself on his act of sharpshooting. But this was short-lived however, as a drone snuck up behind Wedge and fired. The shots damaged Wedge's X-Wing, ripping off one of the wings as well as damaging the reactor and main computer.

Wedge lost control of the flaming X-Wing as it uncontrollably hurled over the horizon, out of Luke's view.

"Wedge!" yelled Luke in shock. Only he and Zev were left now.

"Luke, we're leaving!" said Zev, "I don't know what the hell is happening here, but I don't want to die today!"

"We can't leave without Wedge and Wes!" replied Luke.

"They are probably dead!" stated Zev.

"Ben taught me that you can't give up hope!" said Luke, "I am not leaving them for dead!"

"Fine then," said Zev.

"You have three approaching from the west," said Luke.

"Roger that," replied Zev.

Zev took his X-Wing to the west and fought off the drones attempting to ambush him. The drones fell out of the sky at the hands of Zev's dogfighting skills. But an unexpected suprise came along as three drones landed several critical hits on his fighter. Zev lost control of the fighter and hurled toward a crash-landing in some nearby hills.

Luke was now the only one left. He kept trying to fight the mysterious drones, but they had him overwhelmed. Suddenly, a blast struck his X-Wing, delivering a major blow to his deflector shields. He then took another hit, this time bypassing his deflector sheilds and striking some of the starfighter's systems.

Out of desperation, Luke tried to send a distress call.

"Come in, Rebel Fleet, come in! This is Rogue Squadron! Emergency, send help now!"

It was useless. Luke's communications system was destroyed in the previous hit he had taken. He couldn't call anyone for help. Even if he could, the fleet was too far away to do any good in the situation.

R2 suggested to Luke that they should leave and come back with a search and rescue team, but Luke found that the hyperdrive had also been damaged. Even if they left the atmosphere, they still would have no where to go.

Just then, Luke also sustained a critical hit. R2 screamed in horror as he knew that they were going down. Luke struggled to remain in control of the spacecraft, just barley keeping it steady.

"Brace yourself, R2," said Luke, "I'm going to try to put it down. Prepare for crash landing."

Luke saw the forest below becoming closer and closer with each second. He barley retained control of the smoking X-Wing as it violently descended to the planetary surface below.

His starfighter plunged through the canopy and slid along the forest floor, the trees ripped off the wings as the X-wing crashed through the forest. The starfighter then took a head-on collision with a large tree, smashing into it and knocking Luke unconscious.

Luke remained unconscious as the night went on. Everything was now silent except for R2's worried electronic "sobs."


	3. Knothole

After a long night, daylight finally broke the mysterious planet. The planet's sun rose over the horizon and bathed the trees in it's soft morning glow. Rays of sunlight broke through the canopy and reached the forest floor.

Some sunlight engulfed the mangled wreckage of Luke's X-Wing. As the morning sunlight hit his face, Luke began to come to. He opened his eyes, but his vision was still a blur. He couldn't make out his surroundings at first, but then his vision finally focused after a minute. Luke saw the forest he was in and then attempted to pull himself from the wreck.

R2, who was in idle near the bank of a stream, beeped in joy to see his master and friend was alive. The astromech droid rolled over to the cockpit of the destroyed starfighter, from which Luke was still trying to pull himself out. R2 emitted a sequence of beeps and clicks.

"Yeah, I'm alright," said Luke, "Nothing's broken. I'm just stuck."

The astromech opened one of his hatches and deployed a fusion cutter extension. R2 began using the fusion cutter to slice away at the crashed starfighter in order to free Luke.

"Thanks, R2" said Luke.

Once R2 had finished cutting away at the starfighter's cockpit, Luke was able to push the loosened parts away and crawl out of the wreck. After making his way out, Luke pushed himself back up on to his feet as R2 watched him.

"R2," said Luke, "Can you detect the others' short-range homing beacons?"

R2 displayed a flat grid with flashing dots scattered around it.

"Seems like their beacons are still active," said Luke, "but without the assistance of a geological surface map, finding them is like trying to find a fugitive in the Outer Rim."

R2 beeped in an unfortunate agreement. Luke sighed and slowly walked back over to the wreck. He opened the cargo container on his X-Wing, retrieving a backpack full of emergency supplies as well as a blaster rifle.

"Come on, R2," said Luke, "let's take a look around, see if we can find anyone."

R2 lowered his third leg and began to follow Luke. The human and droid travelled into the unknown forest. Luke and R2 traveled through the forest for quite some time. They were unfamiliar with the planet's rotational speed, so they did not know what time of day it was.

So far they haven't come across any danger, but Luke made sure he kept on alert.

"Be on alert, R2," Luke commanded, "I'm not sure if this planet is run by smugglers, gangsters, or what not. But they obviously don't want us here and there is a chance they could still give us some trouble."

They traveled through the forest some more. After a while, R2's head began to spin around as he constantly beeped.

"What is it, R2?" asked Luke.

R2 beeped again.

"Are you detecting something?" asked Luke.

R2 gave Luke a "nod."

"Something.. living?" asked Luke

R2 "nodded" again.

"And it's coming our way?" asked Luke, again.

R2 gave an affirmative beep.

"Stay calm, R2," said Luke.

Luke wielded his blaster rifle and R2 equiped his blaster extension. They slowly and carefully made their way into a clearing. Luke kept his finger near the trigger, trying to keep himself prepared for any possible ambush. Suddenly, they heard movement from the trees. They turned their heads in the direction of the sound and saw leaves and branches move.

"Who's there!?" Luke demanded, "Show yourself!"

Movement in the trees was seen and heard again. Luke kept his blaster rifle aimed at the spot the sound was resonating from. The brush continued to rattle. Eventually a figure emerged from the brush.

The figure revealed itself to be short, yellow, furred, and humanoid; presumably male. Luke and R2 could tell that it was still a child by it's species standards. Luke lowered his blaster rifle and made a slow approach to the creature.

"I didn't mean to frighten you," said Luke in a calm voice, "do you speak Basic by any chances?"

"Basic?" asked the being, "What is Basic?"

"So you do speak Basic," said Luke.

"What is Basic?" asked the being again.

"Its the standard galactic language," said Luke, "You are speaking it right now."

"No, silly," said the being, "I am speaking Mobian."

Mobian? Luke did not know what that meant. The common galactic language was universally known as "Basic". Unless it had a different name here, Luke did not know what the being was talking about,

"That's what you call it on this planet?" asked Luke.

"Of course," said the being, "You overlanders speak it too."

Overlander? What was that? Did they call humans a different name on this world as well?

"What are you talking about?" asked Luke, "I'm a human."

The being was clearly confused by Luke's statements. It hesitated to respond for a moment, giving Luke an odd look. The being began to speak again.

"Where are you from?" asked the being, "What's your name?"

"I am Luke Skywalker," said Luke, "And I am from Tatooine."

"Tatooine? Never heard of it," said the being, "But if you want to know, my name is Tails."

Luke mentally asked himself how the being never heard of Tatooine. Tatooine was one of the most famous crime-ridden, lawless, but yet important places in the Outer Rim. There's no reason anyone should have never heard about it unless they were living in the lowest levels of Coruscant their whole lives.

"Cute name I guess," said Luke, "So, where are you from?"

"Knothole village," said Tails, "Everyone is out looking for the thing that fell out of the sky near the village last night!"

"Wait! What did you say!?" asked Luke as his eyes widened, "Tell me about it!"

"Come with me to the village," said Tails, "Sally will tell you all about it."

R2 beeped, surprising Tails.

"Look out! Robot!" screamed Tails.

"Oh, that's just R2," said Luke, "He's a droid. And he's my friend."

"Oh, so he's a nice Robot," said Tails.

R2 beeped in an offended manner.

"He's a droid," said Luke, "Droids take offense to being called "robot" because it refers to a mindless machine only programmed to do a single task."

"I'm sorry, little guy," Tails apologized to R2.

Had Tails never seen a droid before? Luke asked so many questions in his head at the moment. Why doesn't he know what Basic is? Why hasn't he heard of Tatooine? Why hasn't he seen a droid before? And why was he so scared of R2?

"I just hope Sally isn't mad that I am bringing you and him to our village," said Tails.

"She'll understand," said Luke, unknowingly.

Luke did not know what Tails' species was or who he was affiliated with. He was also unsure whether he could trust them or not. But Tails' group obviously knew something, which is what Luke needed.

However, Luke did not think that they were the ones who shot down Rogue Squadron. Tails seemed far too innocent and soft to be affiliated with anyone who would shoot down Rebel starfighters, including radical and criminal groups, or the Empire.

But Luke could still use all the help he can get at this point. He figured that maybe this group knew the way around the landscape, or maybe even had surface map data. And if they were also looking for one of the crashed starfighters, they may already have one of Luke's friends.

Luke agreed to going back to Tails' village. He had no other option at the moment.

Luke followed Tails through the forest with R2 trailing right behind him. On the way they scaled ravines, climbed some rocks, and crossed a stream or two. Tails eventually led Luke and R2 to a primitive elevator overhanging a clifftop.

"We're almost there!" said Tails as he entered the elevator, "Come on!"

Luke was hesitant about getting on the elevator. It looked very primitive. It was made of wood and used a "rope-pulley" design. Luke was unsure if it could handle his weight, let alone R2's.

"Come on," said Tails, "it's perfectly safe. If it can hold a terrapod, then it can hold both of you."

Luke did not know what a "terrapod" was, but he trusted Tails. Luke stepped on to the elevator and R2 rolled on right behind him. It suprisingly held both of their weight quite well. Tails shut the gate and lowered the primitive elevator down. The passengers exited the elevator once they reached the bottom of the cliff.

Luke and R2 continued to follow Tails through the forest until they reached a certian point.

"Were here!" Tails said.

Luke caught up to Tails to see the sight of a small village ahead of him. It seemed to blend in to the forest, and was centered around a big tree. A river stood in between them and the village which was crossed by a wooden bridge.

Tails ran across the bridge with childish enthusiasm. Luke and R2 looked at eachother as Luke shrugged. Luke and R2 made their way across the bridge, cautiously entering the unfamiliar village being careful not to cause trouble.

Luke and R2 curiously looked around at the village as they passed through it. It was inhabited with many different members of what Luke assumed was Tails' species. They were very diverse in appearance, height, and characteristics. Their reactions to seeing Luke and R2 also varied. Some of them ignored the two, some commented on them, and others gave them odd looks or glares.

"Why iz an overlander in ze village!?" yelped one of the beings, "And why zere a robot too!?"

"Must be one of Robotnik's lackeys!" said another being who was colored in blue, "I've got him!"

The blue being suddenly attacked Luke. Luke, suprised, was knocked down to the ground. He began to push himself back up when the being began to taunt him.

"You must be stupid if you think you can walk right in here without me to say something about it," the being commented.

"What?!" said Luke, "I am not here to hurt anyone!"

"Sh'yeah right," said the being, "Why should I trust an overlander? Let alone with a robot! You are probably Robotnik's spy..."

Luke wondered why this being was attacking him. Who was Robotnik? What's an overlander? And why did this one also mistake R2 for a Robot? Before Luke could ask any questions, the being came back and punched Luke back down.

The being came back at Luke again ready to throw another punch. Luke then wielded his blaster rifle in self defense and aimed it at the blue being. R2 also deployed his blaster addon and pointed it at the blue being.

"Listen," said Luke, "I didn't want trouble! But if you are going to keep attacking me, I will be forced to get aggressive with you!"

"Cut it out!" yelled a female voice, "Sonic, what is going on here!?"

Another one of the beings, this one being female with red hair, stepped forth.

"Sonic, you are so wreckless," she said, "Maybe next time you should ask someone what their business is here!"

"But Sally," said Sonic, "Overlanders despise us, I don't see why any one of them..."

"You act too fast," said Sally, "Maybe you should think for a minute that not all overlanders are the same?"

R2 extended one of his arms to help Luke up. He set his blaster rifle back into "safety" mode. He and R2 went closer to the being named Sally, still holding the rifle. They leaned in, trying to get a better understanding of the situation.

"I'm sorry, Sally," said Sonic.

Sally turned her attention to Luke and R2. She did not look antagonistic toward them, so Luke decided it was safe to lower his rifle.

"I am sorry about Sonic," she said, "he's a little impulsive."

"I can see that..." said Luke.

"I can't say I blame how he acts when approached by overlanders," said Sally, "Your species does generally hate us and did start the Great War, after all."

Luke was confused again. What had humans ever done to them? And what was the Great War? Luke assumed that she may have been talking about the Clone Wars, a huge galactic conflict that happened before his birth. Many planets were caught in the crossfire of that war, and many civilians did die after all. It would make sense for some to still be angry.

"You mean the Clone Wars?" Luke asked.

"Clone Wars?" asked Sally, "What are you talking about? I'm talking about the war that was fought between our races."

"What?" asked Luke, "I don't remember that happening."

"See, he's playing dumb, Sally!" said Sonic, "He can't be trusted!"

"Sonic!" Sally hissed. She turned her attention back to Luke, "Sorry about him, again."

"It's fine," said Luke, "Although I am not an overlander, I don't even know what an overlander is."

"What?" asked Sally, who was obviously confused by Luke's statement.

"Look," said Luke, "I do not know what is going on here, I am not even from this planet!"

"You say that you are not from this planet?" asked Sally, "how can I beleive that?"

Thats when it hit Luke. He realized he was on a developing planet. The planet was inhabited by a society that had not yet evolved to the point of advanced space travel. They had no knowledge of the rest of the Galaxy, and were completely unaware of the war going on between the rebellion and Galactic Empire. Luke knew that this was going to make things difficult.

"You have to trust me for now," is all Luke could say.

"Alright," said Sally, "you seem like an honest person. Follow me and we will continue this conversation in my office."

Luke was suprised Sally actually believed him. He thought he would be laughed off at best.

Luke followed Sally across the village with R2 trailing behind him. Sally led him to a small wooden building situated near the center of the village.

"I know Knothole isn't much," said Sally as she opened the door to the building, "But to us, it's home. But anyways, welcome to the planet of Mobius."

Luke and R2 entered the building. Sally came in afterwards and shut the door behind her. Luke, Sally, and R2 has made their introductions and moved on to the discussion.

"So you say you are what you call a "human?"" asked Sally.

"Yes," said Luke, "and you are "Mobians?""

Sally nodded.

"And what is your purpose here?" asked Sally.

"Me and some members of my Squadron came to this planet after receiving a strange transmission," said Luke, "We came to find it's source, and came across this planet."

"And what are you doing in Knothole?" asked Sally.

"The one known as Tails brought me here," said Luke.

"Ah yes, Tails," said Sally, "Very young and innocent. He's always bringing new friends to the village."

"I see," said Luke.

"So what exactly happened before you got here?" asked Sally.

"Well, shortly after entering the atmopshere, we were ambushed by these drones!" said Luke, "they shot us all down one-by-one!"

Sally leaned back in the chair. "Well, I guess that solves that mystery," she said to herself.

R2 beeped in curiosity of Sally's statement.

"Last night we heard explosions," Sally said, "And then those on duty in the watch tower reported objects falling out of the sky and crashing into the forest. We dispatched a group earlier to look for the wreck of the nearest one that crashed close to here."

Luke nodded his head showing he was listening.

"If your story is true," Sally continued, "Then that means the reported objects crashing into the woods were no other than you and your friends."

"Yes!" said Luke, "And I really need help finding them!"

"We will see what our search team finds," said Sally, "They were sent out earlier to check one that crashed just over the hill to see if it is a new Robotnik technology."

"I hope they are okay," said Luke, "I didn't exactly get a happy landing myself. My ship is completely destroyed, I am just lucky I don't have any injuries."

"Let's hope for the best," said Sally.

Luke nodded in agreement. He was silent for a few moments. He sighed and shook his head.

"What in the Universe WERE those things anyways!?" asked Luke.

"Sounds like you had an unfortunate encounter with Robotnik's stealthbots," said Sally.

"Who's Robotnik?" asked Luke.

Sally was about to answer when the door opened up. A Mobian entered with an urgent expression. "Sally," he said, "You won't beleive what we found!"

"It looks like we will have to continue this conversation later," Sally said to Luke.

Sally followed the mobian out the door. Luke curiously got out of his seat and followed. R2 deployed his third leg and tread out the door as well.

A small party of mobians walked into the village. On their backs they carried what Luke could tell were some small parts from an X-Wing starfighter. Another mobian carried the emergency supply backpack and blaster rifle from said X-Wing. Just behind them, another small team of Mobians carried a human man on a stretcher, who Luke quickly recgonized.

"Zev!" said Luke, "Zev! Are you alright!?"

Luke quickly ran over. Zev was clearly in bad shape. His Rebel pilot uniform was ripped. His face was covered in blood and he had a cut running down his arm. His exposed right leg was bruised, and his left leg looked displaced.

"Zev," said Luke again.

Zev slowly turned his head to look at Luke.

"Luke?" he asked softly.

"Thank goodness you're alive," said Luke, "are you going to be alright?"

"I don't know," replied Zev.

Meanwhile, a tall, yellow, male mobian, with a spiked tail went up to Sally. He spoke to her.

"It did not crash too far away from the village," he said, "It was easy to find, especially since we could see the smoke."

Sally listened.

"They are some type of overlander aircraft," he continued, "We brought some of the parts for analysis but we can't even tell what kind of technology it is. The pilot is alive, but is pretty beat."

"Move him to the medical hut, Nathan," said Sally, "And make sure he is treated very well. He is not a prisoner, and I dont want him to feel like one."

"Right away, my princess," said Nathan in obedience.

Meanwhile, Luke was still speaking with Zev.

"Zev," Luke said to his injured comeade, "Where's Wes and Wedge!? Have you heard from them!? Are they alive?"

"How should I know?" said Zev, "But I am glad to see that you are in one piece."

R2 came over and beeped "hello".

"And I see your droid is too," Zev added.

"Don't worry," said Luke, "We will find Wes and Wedge eventually."

Zev then got carried away by the mobians into a nearby wooden building.

Nathan continued to talk to Sally.

"The craft's technology is too advanced for us to comprehend," he said, "If I didn't know better, I'd say this tech came from another world."

"If they are to be believed, that is kind of true," said Sally.

Nathan shot Sally a confused glare.

"Uh, we will send them to Rotor's shop for analysis," Nathan said.

Luke walked back over to Sally after Zev had been transported to the medical hut.

"Listen," said Luke, "I don't know how long I will be here. You seem like trustworthy people, well mostly, but would it be any trouble if we stayed here?"

"You can," said Sally, "but I would have to tell everyone and make sure they are okay with it."

"Understandable," said Luke.

As the day went on, Luke and R2 kept to themselves in an isolated corner of the village. Someone would occasionally pass them, but would most often ignore them. Even if one did try to engage in conversation, Luke had too much on his mind to really talk. They were stranded on an uncharted planet deep within the Unknown Reigons, he doesn't know the state of his two missing comeades, the local species has obviously not advanced to the point of interstellar space travel, they seem to feel uncomfortable about him, and he still knows little of the drones and the "Robotnik" they speak of.

Later that afternoon, the blue mobian known as 'Sonic' who had attacked him earlier came up to him and took a seat next to him. R2 angrily equipped some of his utility extensions, ready to use them in an act of self defense.

"What?" asked Luke, "here to beat me up again?"

"No," said Sonic, "I actually would like to apologize for my actions earlier."

Luke had the feeling Sonic was being truthful.

"It's fine, R2" said Luke.

R2 put away his extensions. Luke was curious to why Sonic had changed his mind on him so quickly.

"I'm sorry," said Sonic, "I don't usually trust every stranger that walks in here. It really isn't the fact you are an overlander; I don't trust many other mobians either. But Sally does trust you, it seems."

"I accept your apology," said Luke, "But please explain yourself."

"Can you really blame me?" asked Sonic, "Here we are in the middle of a war. You can't tell who you can trust or not. We have learned it the hard way many times."

"I take you are fighting against this "Robotnik" I have been hearing about?" asked Luke.

"Bingo," said Sonic, "Didn't Sally tell you?"

"Our conversation got cut off," said Luke, "But she did say it was his drones that blew us out of the sky, so I figured it out."

"Stealthbots," said Sonic, "Very dangerous."

"Oh," said Luke, "And before we were attacked, we tapped into their transmissions. They said something about a "hedgehog." Do you know what that means?"

"Let's just say I am quite popular around here," said Sonic as he leaned back with a smirk, "I am the only one Robotnik is truly afraid of."

"Who is this Robotnik anyways?" asked Luke, "What has he done?"

"Robotnik rules this planet with an iron fist," Sonic said, "He took over when I was a child. He turned most of the planet's population into robotic slaves. Me and our small global organization of freedom fighters are trying to restore freedom to the planet."

"Wow..." said Luke.

"Yeah," said Sonic, "So from what I hear, you are not from this planet."

"No I am not," said Luke, "But from what I've heard, your situation and mine are not all that different."

"What do you mean?" asked Sonic.

"Well," said Luke, "The Empire rules most of this galaxy with an oppressive grasp. The Emperor is a power-hungry dictator who desires to keep his iron fist prominent over us all. I am part of the Rebel Alliance, the resistance against the Empire. We are a small organization, but we look to the goal of restoring freedom to the Galaxy."

"Who is this Emperor?" asked Sonic, "Is he just like Robotnik?"

"I haven't met him and I don't plan on it," said Luke, "But he is most likely much worse than Robotnik."

"Mondo crazy..." said Sonic.

Luke nods.

"Darth Vader is bad enough," said Luke, "I can only imagine what the Emperor must be like in person."

"Who's Darth Vader?" asked Sonic.

The memories came flooding back to Luke. The memories of the fearsome Sith Lord Darth Vader: the man who had murdered his father. Luke also remembered watching Vader murder Ben right before his very eyes. Luke began to tremble at the awful memory.

"I apologize for asking," said Sonic.

"It's... It's alright," said Luke, "Let's just say he is the second-in-command of the Imperial forces."

"My Robotnik and your Emperor; you must know what it's like," said Sonic, "One freedom fighter to another."

"I understand your situation completely," said Luke, "Like you, we strike from a secret base hidden amongst the stars."

"Cool," said Sonic, "Well, we are trying our best to make sure Knothole stays secret and undiscovered to Robotnik."

"Well, our base actually was discovered," said Luke, "It was my heroism that saved everyone. Right now we are trying to find a location for a new base."

"But why have we never heard of your war?" asked Sonic, "And why weren't we aware of the interstellar civilization in this very Galaxy."

"Most likely since Mobius is so isolated from the rest of the Galaxy," said Luke, "And also the fact you have not advanced to the point of sufficient space travel. All this probably allowed you to remain undetected throughout the many millennia of Galactic history."

"Well," said Sonic, "Won't your friends come looking for you?"

"They don't even know we are here," said Luke, "We did not send the coordinates back to the fleet... Although we should have."

"Well that sure blows," said Sonic.

"We'll figure something out," said Luke, "R2 is pretty handy. He's gotten me out of trouble before. Right, R2?"

R2 beeped and rotated his head.

"Don't think I'll get used to living with a bot," said Sonic.

"Hes a droid," Luke corrected.

"So, how do you think you are going to leave?" asked Sonic.

"We can try to figure out how to put together a hyperspace transmitter," said Luke, "But I'm just worried about finding Wes and Wedge right now."

"I understand," said Sonic.

The two ended the conversation and walked away.

Later that night, Sally had called the entirety of Knothole village for a meeting. She stood on a stage overlooking the crowd that gathered. The crowd was muttering and chatting with eachother.

Seated behind Sally were Luke, Sonic, and R2.

"Thank you all for coming," said Sally, "As you all know, we have some new guests. There have also been rumors going around..."

"So why aren't you speaking?" Luke asked Sonic.

"I was never good with speeches," Sonic said, "Proper speeches are far too slow for me."

"I know some of you may be confused by recent events," Sally continued, "But keep in mind that these people mean no harm. They will be welcome to remain here for as long as they need to."

Mutters erupted from the crowd.

"Taking in overlanders?"

"What if they are Robotnik's spies?"

"We just can't keep taking in everyone that comes our way.."

"Now I know this may be a controversial decision to some of you," Sally continued, "But we are Freedom Fighters. We never turn away someone in need!"

The mutters still continued. Luke stepped up to the stand.

"I'll take it from here," Luke told Sally.

Sally stepped aside. Luke stepped up and the crowd was silent.

"Greetings everyone," said Luke, "I am Luke Skywalker. As you know, I arrived here today."

The crowd began to murmur again.

"I know there are probably already rumors about me," said Luke, "And if you heard any rumors about me coming from space, well they are true."

Some of the crowd gasped and others kept muttering.

"My presence may be uneasy at first, but we mean no harm," Luke continued, "We are also victims of the one you call Robotnik; our starfighters were blown out of your skies by his "stealthbots""

Luke waited until a few more mutters calmed down before continuing.

"Where I come from, I am also a Freedom Fighter!" Luke continued, "I know what its like to fight something much larger than you. I know the chaos and confusion it creates!"

The crowd was now silent and their attention was drawn toward Luke.

"I understand the situation you're all in," he continued, "So I won't stress you any further. I only ask for your help to find my two friends who are still missing, and then take us in until we find a way home."

Luke won over the crowd even more. But Luke knew he needed to win them over completley.

"In return for your troubles," said Luke, "I promise I will have my allies send a fully armed fleet to this planet, and get rid of the one you call Robotnik once and for all!"

The crowd was overcome with support for Skywalker.


	4. Morning in Knothole

div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;" align="left"Not long after the meeting, the village had fallen quiet; It's inhabitants have gone to go to sleep. A few Mobians still remained out on patrol around the area and a couple were stationed in the watch tower. br /br /Many of the Mobians on patrol were chatting with one another, occasionally commenting on how they hated it when they had to do the night shift. br /br /Meanwhile Luke and R2 were in the medical hut sitting beside Zev's hospital bed. Zev was in stable condition, but was not /br /"He will be alright," said the doctor, "but he will have to rest for a while."br /br /Luke took a look at Zev's unconscious body. Zev's pilot uniform was exchanged for a patient's gown and his pilot's helmet was sitting on the stand next to the bed. Bandages were wrapped around his cuts and bruises, and his disloctated leg was now in a cast. /div  
div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;" align="left"br /"How long will it be until he is healed up?" asked /br /Normally a quick dive in a bacta tank would heal these injuries. But on a planet that lacked bacta tanks, medical droids, or advanced medical practices, Luke knew that Nature had to take it's /br /"I would say about two weeks at least," said the doctor, "The wounds should close in a couple days, and take a couple weeks to completely heal over."br /br /"Normally a bacta tank would fix these wounds," said /br /"I know you're used to your advanced technologies and practices," said the doctor, "But we unfortunately don't have that. But I can't wait until your friends provide us with your wonderful technologies."br /br /Luke didn't reply to the last statement. He just walked over to the window and looked outside into the darkened, quiet village. By this time, Luke figured out that Mobius' rotational period was approximately the same as a galactic standard day: 24 /And from what he could tell, it was near 10:30 /br /"Wes and Wedge are still out there," said Luke, worrying about his missing /br /"Go get some sleep," said the doctor, "You've had a rough couple of days. Just try to hope for the best and start looking tomorrow."br /br /"Alright," said Luke, looking /br /Luke started walking out the door. He briefly looked back at his wounded comrade before continuing out into the /br /Luke and R2 travelled through the darkened village. They stopped to talk to a couple patrols, but kept their voices down careful not to wake anyone. After a while they made their way to the vacant hut that was given to them /br /Once inside, R2 tread over to a corner on the far end of the small building. Luke turned out the lights and laid down in the bed. Luke shut his eyes, but could still see the glow from R2's lights theough his /br /"Get some rest, R2," said Luke, "We don't know how long we are going to be here, and you may want to save your batteries."br /br /R2 complied. He stood still and his lights went dark as he went into sleep mode. br /br /Luke pulled the covers over him and tried to get comfortable with his pillows. He couldn't go to sleep. Hours passed, but Luke remained awake. He kept thinking about Wes and Wedge. Where were they? Were they even alive? br /br /Luke also kept thinking about the possibility that he may never get off of Mobius. What if he was trapped on the planet for the rest of his life? If that was so, he would at least aid the Mobians' cause. But even then, he'd never see Han, Leia, Chewbacca, 3P0, or any of his friends or comrades /br /He tried to not think about it, but it did not help. Luke's busy mind kept him awake for hours before gradually calming due to need of sleep. He finally fell asleep sometime after midnight, slowly drifting off into a deep, dreamless, /br /Next morning, the village once again was with life. Rays of sunlight punctured the forest canopy and reached through the window, bathing Luke's face. Luke began to wake up. br /br /Luke found it rather difficult to wake up since he did not get enough sleep over the night. He rolled over, trying to get his face out of the light. He even tried to go back to sleep, but R2 came out of sleep mode and went up to Luke and made noise to wake him /br /"Fine, R2," Luke said, "I'm up. I'm up."br /br /Luke was still tired. He had to force himself out of bed. He struggled to put on his overwear and stumbled around a bit. After a while he made it to the /br /Luke stepped out into the village, the outside sunlight woke him entirely up. He then looked ahead of him, and to his suprise, a group of mobian children were there to greet /br /"Hey look," said one of the Mobian children, "There he is!"br /br /"Its the alien that will get rid of Robotnik for us!" said /br /They called him an alien? From what Luke knew, "Alien" is used to mean "foreign." Sometimes the word is also used as a derogatory term for any species that is non-human, but Luke did not take offense. He was on their planet and was, to them, an /br /"Uh... That's right..." said /br /The children cheered while R2 came /br /"Hey look," said another one pointing to R2, "It's the robot!"br /br /"Droid," Luke /br /The children quickly began to huddle around R2. The astromech droid got confused by all the attention and emitted a series of confused binary noises. br /br /"He doesn't like to be crowded like that," warned /br /R2 continued to emit the noises. He waddled and spun his head around, trying to make the children stop crowding /br /The children continued to crowd R2 until a female Mobian with cybernetic limbs (who Luke had learned was named emBunnie/em) approached /br /"That's enough," she said, "leave the lil' guy alone."br /br /The children complied and stopped crowding R2. R2 gave a noise of /br /"Bunnie," said one of the children, "He's going to get rid of Robotnik for us!"br /br /Bunnie looked and saw Luke. She approached /br /"Did you really mean what you said?" Bunnie asked Luke, "Can you really get rid of Robotnik?"br /br /"Well, not single-handedly," said Luke, "I'm not exactly a Jedi yet."br /br /The children looked at Luke in curiousity. br /br /"A Jedi?" asked one of the children, "What's a Jedi?"br /br /Bunnie even began to get curious to what a Jedi /br /"What is a Jedi anyways?" Bunnie /br /"The Jedi were brave warriors who knew the ways of the Force," said /br /"So an army of Jedi are going to come?" asked a /br /"That's sadly not possible," said Luke, "There are no more Jedi left."br /br /The children /br /"What happened to them all?" asked another /br /"Darth Vader and the Empire destroyed them all," said Luke, "All except for a few. The man who introduced me to the ways of the force was one of the survivors."br /br /"If the Jedi are all gone," said a child, "Then why would you become one?"br /br /"I'm not sure," said Luke, "One day I decided I needed to be a great Jedi like my father."br /br /"Your father was a Jedi?" asked another /br /"Yes," said Luke, "But he was murdered by Darth Vader. One day I will fight him and avenge my father!"br /br /"How exactly does a Jedi fight?" asked a /br /Luke gripped a long cylinder-like object that was attached to his belt. He removed it from his waist and held it /br /"With this," he /br /"What is that?" asked another Mobian child. br /br /"This is called a lightsaber," said /br /Luke pushed the activation switch on the lightsaber and the device ignited to life. A blue shaft of light extended from the lightsaber's emitter, reaching over a meter into the air. The lightsaber hummed as it was waved /br /"This is the preferred weapon of a Jedi Knight," said Luke, "The Jedi were master swordsmen, and were trained for any sort of combat."br /br /"When would a Jedi have to fight?" asked a /br /"From stories I was told," said Luke, "Their skills were put to the test during the Clone Wars, when they became the generals for the old Republic's clone armies."br /br /The children were deeply intrigued by what Luke had to /br /"Oh, big deal," exclaimed an egotistical voice. br /br /Everyone turned their attention to see that the remark had come from none other than Antoine D'Coolete. br /br /"Master swordsmen?" he scoffed, "If they were so skilled, then why did they all get killed? You and your fancy Sword-of-Light are no match for moi, the legendary swordsman of knothole!"br /br /Antoine pulled out his ceremonial sword and waved it around while boasting about himself. Bunny shook her head and held her face in pure annoyance. Everyone else just ignored Antoine and turned their attention back to /br /"As I was saying," said Luke as he deactivated the lightsaber, "The Jedi would also channel the Force in combat as well."br /br /"What's... The Force?" asked another child, "You keep mentioning it. But what is it?"br /br /"The Force is a energy field that flows through all living things," said Luke, "It's energy, it's power. I am one who is strong with the force. That is why I am training becoming a Jedi, just like my father."br /br /The children were very impressed. A couple, however, became /br /"If this Force is so powerful," said one of the older children, "Then why won't you go topple Robotnik right now?"br /br /"It's because I am still training," said Luke, "I have only been training for months, and I still have a very long way to go, years possibly. And it's harder when you don't have a master."br /br /"May I ask why you don't you have a master?" asked /br /"Well, I did... Once," said Luke, "But... But..."br /br /Luke's eyes began to tear /br /"I'm sorry for asking," said /br /"It's alright," siaid Luke, "But I took what he said and have been teaching myself."br /br /"What did he teach you?" asked /br /"We didn't have enough time together to teach me much," said Luke, "But Latley I have been practicing the first trick he showed me."br /br /"What would that be?" asked /br /"It's called the 'Mind Trick'," said Luke, "The Force can have a strong influence on the mind. It's a rather basic skill."br /br /"Can you show us?" asked an older /br /"Well, I am still a beginner," said Luke, "Been practicing it for months, but so far I can only make it work on someone who is very weak-minded and has incredibly low self-esteem."br /br /Luke looked at Antoine, who was still waving his sword around and boasting about /br /"You will stay out of everyone's way," Luke said as he waved his hand in Antoine's /br /Antoine fell into a short trance. br /br /"I will stay out of everyon..." Antoine repeated before snapping out of the /br /A couple of the children /br /"HEY!" Antoine yelled once the effect wore /br /The children started laughing loudly, and Bunnie even giggled a bit /br /"But even on him I can only make the effect last for a second," said Luke, "I still have a very long ways to go, as you can see."br /br /The children's laugher subsided after a few /br /"Tell us more about the Force, Mr. Skywalker," said a mobian /br /"I'm not sure what I can really say," said Luke, "There is still so much about the Force I don't know myself."br /br /The children continued to ask questions. But Bunnie knew that Luke did not have time for /br /"Run along children," said Bunnie, "He's got things to do."br /br /The children all ran off to do their usual daily activities, except for one: /br /"Mr. Skywalker," he said, "I just want to say you're incredible."br /br /Tails then also left, leaving only /br /"Well, it looks like some around here are taking a liking to you," said /br /"Yeah," said Luke, "But still... Im worried about Wes and Wedge..."br /br /"Sally is planning on meeting you privately about that after she has breakfast," Bunnie replied, "She sent me to tell you that."br /br /"Thanks," said Luke, "Where is she anyways?" br /br /"She's in the mess hall," said /br /"Where is that?" asked /br /"I'll walk you there," said /br /Bunnie walked Luke across the village. On their way across the village, Luke decided to commentate on Bunnie's cybernetic /br /"I hope you don't mind asking," said Luke, "But what happened to your limbs?"br /br /"You want to know what happened to my limbs?" Bunnie /br /"Yes," said Luke, "Did you lose them in a battle or something?"br /br /"Not... Exactly," said Bunnie, "Ya'll wouldn't understand..."br /br /"Why wouldn't I understand?" asked Luke, "What happened?"br /br /"I don't like talking about it," said /br /"You sound very ashamed about your cybernetics," said /br /"Why wouldn't I be?" Bunnie /br /"Don't be ashamed," said Luke, "Where I am from, cybernetics are very common. People have artificial limbs all over the place."br /br /"It's not the fact I have cybernetics that I am ashamed of," said Bunnie, "It's the way I got them."br /br /"What do you mean?" asked /br /"As I said," said Bunnie, "You wouldn't understand."br /br /Luke and Bunnie both fell silent for the rest of the walk. They shortly reached the Mess Hall and Bunnie showed him inside. br /br /Luke walked in to the building and saw rows of tables all lined with Mobians sitting around them. They were eating what the Mobians called "pancakes," and "gurloc bacon." br /br /Luke made his way through the building in search of Sally. He caught a few eyes along the way. Eventually, he was able to find Sally. She was sitting down at a table with Sonic across from /br /Luke took a seat next to /br /"Good morning," Sally said, "How did you sleep?"br /br /"Not so well," said Luke in a low /br /"That's too bad," replied /br /"It's alright," said Luke, "I have a lot on my mind." br /br /"I understand," said Sally, "You've been through a lot."br /br /"What if I'm trapped here forever..?" Luke /br /"Even if you are trapped, you are getting popular around here," said Sally, "And very quickly too."br /br /"Yeah," said Luke, "The kids seem to love me."br /br /"I bet," said Sally, "Kids are neive, they've only heard stories about fighting Robotnik. They are always interested when anyone says they will be a hero and get rid of him."br /br /"Yeah," said Luke, "I'm not sure what I was thinking when I said that."br /br /"I beleive there is truth to what you said though," Sally stated, "After all, you fight an Empire larger than Robotnik, and you are able to use a mystical Force."br /br /"You know about all that?" asked /br /"One thing to remember about Knothole is that information spreads very quickly here," said Sally, "Someone just told me about the Force right before you came in here."br /br /"What did they say?" asked /br /"They said that you told them it's this spiritual energy... Thing?" Sally /br /"I know it's confusing," said Luke, "I really don't know much about the Force yet myself. All that I know is that it's there and I can feel it."br /br /"I was also told you did something called a 'Mind-Trick' on Antoine," said Sally as she giggled a /br /"Well, I am not too skilled with the Mind Trick yet," said Luke, "Even on a very weak mind, I can only make the effect last very briefly."br /br /"Well keep practicing," said Sonic, "Because we have been looking for way to make Ant shut up and stay out of trouble for years."br /br /"I'm not sure if that would be right..." said /br /"Don't worry about it," said Sonic as he put his arm around Luke, "I won't hold it against you. I'll give you a little something if you make him clean out the gurloc pens..."br /br /The doors to the mess hall opened and a mobian entered. This mobian was covered in areas of black and white fur, had rounded ears, and a long tail. He began to look /br /"Oh no..." said /br /"What is it?" asked /br /"It's Geoffery St. John..." said Sonic, "He's a real hardass..."br /br /Geoffery began to walk in their /br /"Brace yourself..." Sonic warned /br /Geoffery walked right up to Luke and grabbed his collar. br /br /"You already think you're a bigshot," Geoffery hissed, "Don't ya?!"br /br /"Geoffery," said Sonic, "Don't hassle the new guy."br /br /"What is the meaning of this!?" Luke /br /"Oh nothing," said Geoffery, "Just telling you how it is!"br /br /"Oh boy, here we go..." said Sonicbr /br /"I don't care if you have magic powers or swing around a sword made of light," Geoffery said while gritting his teeth, "I am still a top commander of the Freedom Fighter forces. As long as you're here, you obey by my rules!"br /br /"Geoffery, please..." said /br /"Be with you in a moment, Love," said Geoffery. Geoffery turned his attention back to /br /"And I say once you do what you need to do here, leave this planet!" Geoffery demanded, "And don't come back!" br /br /"Geoffery!" said Sally, "Stop it! Stop it now!" br /br /Geoferry continued to challenge Luke despite Sally's /br /"What did I ever do to you?" Luke /br /"Oh nothing, yet," Geoffey said, "But if this 'Empire' and 'Darth Vader' you speak of are as bad as you say they are, I don't want them coming here!" br /br /"But the Empire doesn't control space in these areas" said /br /"Not YET," said Geoffery, "Sounds like they'll come looking for you!" br /br /"This is the last place they'd look!" Luke snapped back, "Stop treating me like an enemy!"br /br /"Everyone else here may like you, but I see you as a threat!" Geoffrey yelled, "As long as you remain here, the more you risk your Empire coming here. So once you've found your friends, beat it!"br /br /"Then maybe you can help me find them if you want me out of here so badly!" Luke yelled /br /"Who are you!?" Geoffery said in a dehumanizing manner, "No one orders ME around!"br /br /Luke then began to get seriously angry. He did something he never expected himself to do. He punched Geoffery in the face sending him down to the floor as all the other Mobians in the Mess Hall looked /br /Luke looked at his clenched fist and wondered what he had just done. He expected this kind of behavior from Han Solo, but not himself. br /br /Geoffrey pushed himself up and angrilly grit his teeth at Luke with a black eye. Luke thought Geoffery was going to come back at /br /"Stay out of my way!" Geoffery simply said, before storming out the mess hall /br /Luke was still furious. He took a few minutes to calm /br /"Wow..." is all Sonic could /br /"What was that about?" asked /br /"In Geoffery's world, everyone he doesn't like is a threat," said Sonic, "He also thinks he is on top of everyone."br /br /"But he's still one of our best leaders," said Sally as she sighed. br /br /"What could I have done to upset him?" askes /br /"Ah, nothing really," said Sonic, "Geoffery is usually triggered by jealousy, as well as when somebody picks at his ego."br /br /"What did I do to make him jealous?" asked /br /"Dunno," said Sonic, "Probably the fact you already outshine him."br /br /"I can't believe I did that," said Luke, commenting on his previous /br /"Don't worry," said Sonic, "It takes guts to stand up to him, guts that I admit I don't have."br /br /"I should just avoid him in the future," said /br /"If anything, he's going to avoid you now," Sonic stated, "He acts tough, but he's just a coward."br /br /"But I'm afraid he does have a point though," said /br /"What?" Sonic /br /"The Empire has wanted me dead since I landed that shot that destroyed the Death Star," said Luke, "If they find out I'm hiding here, they will bombard the planet from orbit or do an all-out invasion. Mobius will be doomed."br /br /"You said it yourself," said Sonic, "This is probably the last place they would look."br /br /"Hope it stays that way," said Luke, "For the good of this planet..."br /br /"Whatever happens," said Sally, "It won't be your fault. "br /br /"I know," said /br /"St. John is complicated," said Sally, "But try to be careful for now on." br /br /"I will," said Luke, "Although this wasn't the first time I've gotten into trouble... I should have learned from the cantina in Mos Eisley."br /br /"You'll find trouble wherever you go, my friend," said /br /"Says the one who gets into trouble nonstop," commented Sally. br /br /"You're just too afraid to get dirty sometimes, Sal" said /br /"Oh brother," said /br /"So," Luke said, "When do we discuss finding my friends?"br /br /"In a moment," said Sally, "I just need to finish eating first."br /br /"Fair enough."br /br /Sally ate some of her gurloc /br /"Do you have any idea where they may be?" asked /br /"R2 has a plot of their homing beacons," said Luke, "But without holographic surface data, it will be hard finding them. Unfortunately this planet doesn't have holographic technology yet."br /br /"Actually," Sally said while wiping her face, "We do have holographic maps."br /br /"You do!?" said /br /"You should have just asked," said Sally, "Just because we are primitive by your standards doesn't mean we don't have some similar technologies."br /br /"This is emgreat/em news!" Luke /br /Sally finished eating her breakfast. She bussed her tray and quickly came back to /br /"We have no time to waste then!" Sally said, "Let's get going!" br /br /Shortly afterwards: Sally, Sonic, R2, and Luke were all gathered in the central office. They were all were standing around a wooden /br /"So where's the holomap?" asked /br /"Just hold on a second," said Sally, "I have to load it into Nicole and plug her into the projector."br /br /"Nicole?" asked Luke, "Whos Nicole?"br /br /"This is Nicole," said Sally as she put a small computer up on the /br /Luke looked at the computer, and R2 emitted curiosity-implied beeps. br /br /"Hello," said the computer, "I'm Nicole."br /br /"I take it this is a very handy piece of hardware," said /br /"And I take it you are the "Luke" everyone has been talking about," said /br /"Wait, are you sentient?" said Luke, "I apologize."br /br /"Why yes I am sentient," said Nicole, "And need to apologize. I get mistaken for any old computer all the time."br /br /"So you're a droid," stated /br /R2 beeped in /br /"No, I'm not what you call a 'droid'," said Nicole, "I'm pretty simmilar. Although I'm really just an AI."br /br /R2 /br /"It seems like R2 is happy to see another AI," said Luke, "He's gotten pretty lonely since we arrived."br /br /R2 turned toward Nicole and emitted a sequence of clicks and beeps toward /br /"Why thank you," said Nicole in reply to R2, "I did have a high-quality voice chip installed, thanks for noticing."br /br /R2 beeped /br /Sally used wires to hook Nicole up to a holographic projector on the table. Sally pushed a button that brought up a holographic globe of /br /"For reference, this is where we are," said Sally as she pointed to a spot on the map, "We are on the northern continent of the Western Hemisphere." br /br /"I can see that," said /br /"Nicole, zoom in to the local area," said /br /"I'm on it," said /br /Nicole zoomed in to the local area. The map was now displayed as a three-dimensional map of the local area on the table. Sally pointed at a spot in a forest displayed on the /br /"This here is Knothole," she /br /"That's good to know," said Luke, "Do you need to see the plot R2 is carrying?"br /br /"I guess it wouldn't hurt," said /br /R2 displayed the plot of the crashed X-wings next to the holograpgic map./div  
div style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;" align="left"br /"Each of those flashing blips is a homing beacon from our starfighters," said Luke, "But since there is no surface map, this grid is pretty useless."br /br /"I can see that," said Sally, "But we can match up the grid coordinates with the map, which should give us a clear reading."br /br /"But how do we do that?" asked /br /"We hook Nicole up with R2," said Sally, "And then Nicole would upload the data to R2."br /br /R2 emitted a upbeat sequence of clicks and beeps in /br /"Oh, grow up!" Nicole replied to /br /"Just a heads up," said Luke, "R2 has an interesting sense of humor."br /br /"Yeah," said Nicole sarcastically, "Thanks for the warning."br /br /"As I was saying," said Sally, "After exchanging the data, R2 will match it up with the proper coordinates. And then we will have a clear pinpoint on where your comrades are, hopefully."br /br /"Sounds wonderful," said Luke, "So how long will it take?"br /br /"I don't know," said Sally, "How long does it usually take to upload planetary data to R2?"br /br /"15 minutes on average," said /br /"I have some concerns," said Nicole, "R2's software probably will be incompatible with mine. And that's only a concern if you can even find a way to connect us."br /br /"I... Didn't think about that," Sally /br /R2 beeped a /br /"That's actually a good idea, R2," said /br /"What did he say?" asked /br /"He said you can wire me directly into his CPU," said Nicole, "All you need to do is connect a few wires. It's pretty simple, at least according to him."br /br /"Well let's not waste time then," said Sonic, "let's do it!" br /br /Plates on R2's head had been removed to gain access to his CPU. Wires ran from Nicole and R2, connecting their main CPUs. Sally tightened a few wires and put them in their correct /br /"There," said Sally, "We should good to go."br /br /"Are you two reading eachother?" asked /br /"Affirmative," said /br /R2 beeped in /br /"R2," said Luke, "Try to guide her to your map data storage."br /br /"Well, we use similar base codes," said Nicole, "Both of our base codes are a variation of Binary, so this shouldn't be too difficult."br /br /"Well, hop to it!" said /br /"Don't rush me," said Nicole, "I will still have to figure out his programming codes."br /br /"R2 will tell you," said Luke, "He is pretty good at giving directions."br /br /"Hopefully he doesn't trick me into..." Nicole /br /"What was that?" Luke /br /"Oh Nothing," said Nicole, "It's just that R2 already seems... a bit complex for me..."br /br /"Don't worry," said Luke, "He just likes to mess around. But he is serious when confronted with serious business."br /br /"Alright," said /br /"So how long will it be?" Luke /br /"It should only take a few minutes to navigate into his memory banks," said Nicole, "And then the 15 minutes for the upload."br /br /"Sounds good," said Sally, "We will come back when you're ready."br /br /Sonic, Sally, and Luke all left the building. Nicole and R2 were left /br /"I guess it's just you and me for a bit, R2," said Nicole as she began to navigate R2's memory /br /R2 gave a reply beep. br /br /"Anything you want to talk about to pass the time?" asked /br /R2 clicked a few /br /"Oh," said Nicole, "Well, I would like to know more about where you come from."br /br /R2 /br /"Yes," said Nicole, "How common are other AIs where you are from? And what are they like?"br /br /R2 emitted a frequent stream of /br /"Really?" said Nicole, "That common? They are like everyday citizens?"br /br /R2 gave an affirmative /br /"They call you droids where you're from?" asked /br /R2 gave out more /br /"Very nice," said /br /R2 beeped as he felt Nicole finally access his central /br /"R2," said Nicole, "I've accessed your CPU. I'm now transferring the planetary data."br /br /R2 beeped a few times in response. br /br /"Okay," said Nicole, "What were we talking about again?"br /br /R2 beeped reminding Nicole of the previous /br /"Oh, right," said /br /R2 gave out a few more /br /"So what do you honestly think of me?" asked /br /R2 /br /"Yes," said Nicole, "I want you to be honest."br /br /R2 was silent for a moment before beeping /br /"Primitive!?" said Nicole, "Why are you calling me that?!"br /br /R2 /br /"Why does it matter whether or not I have limbs or am mobile like you?!" said Nicole, "I wasn't always an immobile handheld you know."br /br /R2 became curious. He asked Nicole what she had meant by her last /br /"No one... Has ever asked me that..." said /br /R2 beeped /br /"No," said Nicole, "I wasn't a droid originally. Well, I kinda was a 'droid' for a while but... Why are we even talking about this!?" br /br /R2 gave a few loud /br /"I'm not taking it personally!" said Nicole, "I just don't want to talk about it! Okay!?"br /br /R2 let out a /br /"There's no need to be sorry, R2," said Nicole, "I know you weren't trying to offend me."br /br /R2 beeped /br /"Maybe later..." said /br /R2 and Nicole remained silent for the rest of the /br /Shortly the upload had been completed, Luke, Sonic, and Sally walked back into the /br /"Status?" Sally /br /"Upload: 100%" said /br /R2 beeped in /br /"Good," said Sally, "Did you get along?"br /br /"We got along alright..." said /br /"Glad to hear," said /br /"R2," said Luke, "Do you have all the planetary data?"br /br /R2 gave an affirmative /br /R2 displayed a holographic globe of Mobius on the table. R2 then zoomed in to the local region and pinpointed /br /"Okay, R2," said Luke, "Display homing beacons."br /br /The homing beacons were now displayed neatly on the landscape as flashing, yellow /br /"There is where we found Zev's crash site," said Sally as she pointed to the blip closest to Knothole, "Just over these hills over here."br /br /R2 scrolled the map over to where another point was /br /"This is where I went down," said Luke pointing to a blip in the middle of the forest, "And Wes went down much further behind me."br /br /R2 scrolled over to where Wes' homing beacon was. It was displayed to be on the edge of the forest near a system of canyons. br /br /"That's most likely Wes' crash site," said Luke, "But it's so far away."br /br /"Seems like he crashed in Wolf Pack territory," said /br /"Wolf Pack?" said Luke, "What will they do to him?"br /br /"Well, Lupe is benevolent to anyone in need," said Sally, "You can trust her with your friend."br /br /"Good to hear," said Luke, "That only leaves Wedge."br /br /R2 scrolled back past Knothole and continued to scroll until he reached Wedge's homing beacon, which was situated in a grey /br /"There's Wedge's homing beacon," said Luke, "It looks like he went down in that grey area."br /br /Sonic began to look worried and Sally put on a face of sorrow. br /br /"...this... Is bad..." Nicole /br /"What's wrong?" asked /br /"I... I don't know how to break this to you," said /br /"I'll tell him," said Sonic as he placed his hand on Sally's /br /"Tell me what!?" br /br /"Luke," said Sonic, "I know you're going to be upset, but..."br /br /"Just spit it out," said /br /"Your friend crashed into the Forbidden Zone," said Sonic, "Which is on the outskirts of Robotropolis." br /br /"What... Does that mean?" asked /br /"It means: Even if he survived the crash, Robotnik has him," said Sonic, "Honestly, he's better off dead."br /br /"What's Robotnik going to do to Wedge!?" Luke demanded./div 


	5. Wedge

When Wedge Antilles awoke, he found himself encased within the wreckage of his X-Wing starfighter. He had been downed in a strange attack the previous night and crash landed in a dark, barren, field. Wedge did not know who attacked him, or where he was, but he was simply happy to be alive.

Wedge still suffered a concussion from the crash and was still not yet totally in full consciousness. He could slip into unconsciousness again anytime, and he himself knew it. He struggled to pull himself free of the wreck, but with no avail. "Damnit..." he muttered.

"R5," said Wedge, "R5, can you cut me out of here?"

After hearing no response from the droid, Wedge looked ahead of him and saw the decapitated head of his astromech unit laying before his cockpit. He figured that the droid's head must have been separated on impact. "At least that wasn't me," he stated.

Wedge attempted to pull himself free of the wreck. He knew he couldn't eject because the dashboard trapped his legs and the cockpit was stuck halfway shut. If he tried to eject, he would injure, or even kill himself.

Aside from his concussion, he surprisingly had no major injuries from the crash despite the ruined state his X-Wing was in. He tried to keep pulling himself out, but was too stuck in the wreck. He slowly felt himself slip back into unconsciousness.

As his surroundings once blurred, Wedge saw several strange figures approach him. Wedge did not know who or what the figures were, but he was just happy to see someone come to his rescue.

"Over here," Wedge whispered loudly. The figures continued on their approach. By the time they were looming over him, Wedge had slipped back into unconsciousness.

Some unknown time later, Wedge awoke once more. This time Wedge had awoken into full consciousness. He felt the ground beneath him: it was cold and hard, not what he expected after a rescue.

He opened his eyes, but his vision was a blur for a few moments. When his vision finally focused, he found himself in a small, metal, room. He looked around at the room and saw that he was in a prison cell. He realized he wasn't rescued, but was taken prisoner. But why? Was he on an Imperial Star Destroyer's detention block?

"Where am I?" Wedge asked.

Wedge took further observations of the cell. It seemed odd for an Imperial detention block. Normally there would be stormtroopers or imperial guards in the corridors. Wedge also noted that the cell he was in used metal bars. The Empire was far too sophisticated for such a crude way of closing off a cell. Normally the Empire uses solid doors or ray sheilds in their prison cells.

Wedge suggested to himself that he was not on an imperial Star Destroyer, or in any Imperial facility for that matter. Wedge began to consider the possibility that he may have been taken hostage by smugglers or pirates. What if he was a prisoner of the Hutts? What if they were going to sell him off to the Empire? Crime families are known to do such things.

"Where am I?" Wedge asked again.

"A place worse than death," said a mysterious voice.

"Who said that?" asked Wedge.

"Over here," said the voice, "I'm in the cell next to you."

Wedge pulled himself up and looked through the bars into the next cell. He looked to see a non-human being in the neighboring cell. It wasn't any sort of species Wedge has seen before, and was suprised to see it. It even looked surprised to see him.

"What is your kind doing here?" the being asked.

"I have no clue," said Wedge, "It's all a blur."

"So you hit your head, huh?" the being asked.

"Yeah, I did," said Wedge, "May I ask what are you doing in this place?"

"I was just picked out of my home in the forest one day," said the being, "Now I'm stuck here. By the way, my name is Funnel."

"That's an odd name," said Wedge.

"What's yours then?" Funnel asked.

"My name is Wedge," Wedge replied.

"And I think that's an odd name," Funnel said, "So we're even."

"I guess," said Wedge, "What are you anyways?"

"I'm a person," said Funnel, "Get it straight... Overlanders..."

"Calm down," said Wedge, "I didn't mean it that way. I mean what species are you?"

"I'm a Mobian," Funnel said, "You overlanders never seen one of us before?"

Mobian? Wedge knew of many sentient species around the Galaxy, but he had never heard of a Mobian before. And what was an overlander? Was it this planet's slang for "offworlder"? And even then, why was Funnel acting so hostile toward him?

"No," said Wedge, "I've never seen a Mobian before."

"Then I guess you've been spending too much time in your hole," said Funnel.

Wedge got frustrated with Funnel's comments.

"You know, you don't have to be such a jerk" Wedge stated, "I just met you and you are already insulting me! I don't even know what's going on!"

Funnel's expression and tone changed to a more calm tone.

"I apologize," said Funnel, "I'm just upset. If you were about to be roboticized, you'd feel the same."

Roboticized? Wedge did not know what that meant. Prehaps it was another slang from this planets' dialect. Wedge decided it was time to ask about his whereabouts.

"Where am I?" asked Wedge.

"Where do you think you are?" Funnel said.

"Am I on a pirate vessel or a gang base?" asked Wedge, "Will they trade us to the Empire?"

Funnel broke out laughing. A few other voices of laughter from other cells echoed through the prison corridor. Wedge wondered why they were laughing at him.

"You really must have hit your head," said Funnel, "Because if you don't know where we are, then I don't know what to tell ya."

"Why won't you just tell me where I am?" asked Wedge, "Do you have something against me?"

"Nah," said Funnel, "I think you're cool. It's just weird seeing your kind thrown in here with us."

Wedge looked into the corridor at the other cells. He could see that each cell was occupied by different variants of Funnel's species, all very diverse in height, size, and appearance. He saw no species he recgonized, let alone any humans.

"Why is it weird for my kind to be in here?" Wedge asked.

"Because Robotnik is somewhat merciful toward his own species," Funnel said, "Normally he just occupies your cities, not rounding you up here with us."

"Is Robotnik an Imperial?" Wedge asked.

The faces of the Mobians looked confused.

"If you don't know who Robotnik is, then you really do have amnesia," Funnel stated, "But you must have really pissed him off to end up in here, man."

Wedge was still confused. Who was Robotnik? Why does he target this race known as Mobians? Is he a crime lord, bounty hunter, or imperial?

A metal door on the far side of the corridor opened up letting in a blinding light. Two figures stepped into the corridor and the door shut behind them. The Mobians suddenly had looks of fear in their eyes and cowered in the back of the cells as the figures walked by. Wedge looked at the figures and could tell that they were droids.

The droids continued to walk through the corridors. These droids appeared to be rather crude and primitive looking. They had large, domed heads on bulky humanoid bodies. But while looking dated, they looked like they were built for combat.

The droids stopped at one of the cells and opened it. A Mobian began to scream as the cell was opened. The cell's occupant was dragged out kicking and screaming for mercy. Wedge could see the terror in the Mobian's eyes as he was dragged out of the prison block. The metal doors shut again, and there was an eerie silence.

"What... What are they going to do to the poor guy?" Wedge asked.

"Something terrible," said Funnel.

"What?" asked Wedge.

"I'd rather not talk about it," said Funnel, "None of us like to. Especially since we will all be subjected to that fate. Unless we die, of course."

What kind of fate awaited these unfortunate souls? Apparently it was a fate far worse than death, but what could possibly be worse than death? Wedge now began to get seriously worried.

Meanwhile in a large room lined with monitors and control panels, a malevolent figure schemed. It was large, fat, man in a red jumpsuit who sat on an oversized chair in the middle of the room. He watched the monitors, grinning.

The large monitor in the front of the room turned on. A short man with a long nose who was in another room came on the screen.

"Dr. Robotnik," said the short man, "Prisoner 5448 is ready for roboticization."

"Very good, Snivley," said Robotnik, "This is my favorite time of day."

The two droids from earlier dragged in the unfortunate Mobian, who was still kicking and screaming from terror. The Mobian began to plea for mercy.

"Please don't," the Mobian screamed, "Kill me. Just not this!"

"It's too late for that!" Robotnik yelled, "You should have let the SWATbots gun you down when you had the chance."

"But please don't!" the Mobian continued to plea, "I'll serve you in any way!"

"Oh I bet you will," said Robotnik, "After all, you won't be able to disobey a single word."

"Please don't!"

"Shut up!" Robotnik shouted.

"The Roboticizer is at full power," said Snivley.

"Good," said Robotnik, "Put him in the Roboticizer now."

The Mobian was dragged into a glass tube in the middle of the room Snivley was in. The Mobian beghed helplessly as he was put in constraints and the glass tube was lowered upon him.

Snivley pulled a lever on the control panel sending a surge of electricity through the Mobian's body. The Mobian's flesh and bone began to turn into metal, the metal plates matched the color of the fur it replaced. Soon the Mobian was completely roboticized, complete with a soulless expression. The tube lifted up.

The Mobian, now "Robian" stepped down.

"Unit 56A-B9," Snivley said to the Robian, "Go down the hall and you will receive a list of todays duties."

"Yes sir," the Robian said in an obedient monotone voice.

The Robian walked down the hall.

"Ah it warms my cold metallic heart," said Robotnik with a disgusting expression of amusement.

"Im off to organize a patrol, sir," Snivley said as he was about to cut off the transmission.

"Hold on a minute Snivley," Robotnik said with a serious expression.

Snivley became startled. "Yes, sir?"

"Remember that overlander we captured?" Robotnik asked.

"Yes?" Snivley replied.

"What did you do with his craft?" asked Robotnik.

"It is in Garage 443, sir," said Snivley.

"Good!" said Robotnik, "I want the craft reverse-engineered at once!"

"I've already assigned 56A-B9 to work on it, sir," said Snivley.

"Well assign more!" Robotnik ordered, "And then go help them yourself. I want to know what kind of technology the overlanders plan to use against me."

"Yes," said Snivley, "Right away sir!"

Snivley turned and ran down the hall before the transmission was cut off. Robotnik turned around in his chair and faced a pair of Robians in front of him. One of the Robians was a middle-aged fox and the other an elderly hedgehog.

"You two!" Robotnik said, "Bring me the pilot! I want to ask him some... Questions."

"Right away sir," said the two Robians simultaneously.

Meanwhile back in the cell block, Wedge continued to converse with Funnel.

"How long have you been here?" asked Wedge.

"About a month," Funnel said, "As I said earlier, I got plucked out of my home in the forest."

"What did you do?" Wedge asked.

"Nothing!" Funnel said, "Only in here for being me! So is everyone else!"

"This is terrible," said Wedge.

"Tell me about it, man," said Funnel, "This place sucks! I try my hardest to keep my spirit up."

"Is there a way to escape?" asked Wedge.

"Escape is suicide," Funnel said, "Your only hope is for someone to break you out. I've been waiting for my uncle, who is a Freedom Fighter, to break me out."

"Your uncle is in the rebellion?" Wedge asked.

"Yep," said Funnel, "He's been fighting Robotnik for years."

Wedge realized that Funnel was not refering to the Rebel Alliance, but a different rebellion: probably a local force. But Wedge still didn't know who Robotnik was, although he began to suspect once again that Robotnik was an Imperial officer: rogue or otherwise.

"I have some strong friends," said Wedge, "They can get us out of here."

"I hope you're right," Funnel said.

The metal doors opened up again, and in stepped two more droids. These droids resembled Mobians but had a soulless stare. As they walked down the corridor, once again the Mobians cowered back into the corner out of fear. Wedge curiously watched.

The droids stopped in front of his cell. Wedge suddenly felt fear shoot through him when he saw that the droids were facing his direction. They opened his cell door and pulled him out.

"What are you going to do to me you bastards?!" Wedge yelled as he kicked one of the droids. The droid did not loosen its grip, and only continued to pull him out.

Wedge was escorted down the corridor by the droids. Funnel shook his head as he hopelessly watched Wedge be carried away.

"Funnel," Wedge said, "Help me!"

"I wish I could," said Funnel with a tone of sadness, "Just like I wish I could help the others before you..."

Wedge was escorted out of the prison block and the doors shut once more. Wedge was walked down a series of corridors, each having metallic floors, walls, and ceilings. Metal pipes and wires also lined the sides of the dimly lit corridors. Wedge knew he was either in some sort of cruiser or base.

"Where are you taking me!?" Wedge demanded the droids.

Eventually in one of the corridors, one of the two droids let go of Wedge's arm. It looked at it's comrade.

"Sir," the droid said in a monotone voice, "Robotnik has requested your presence in sector G-9."

"Rodger that," said the other droid. It turned around and walked out of sight.

The one droid was still with Wedge. It looked at him.

"Run," said the droid, this time in a natural voice.

"Why are you helping me?" asked Wedge.

"Listen," said the droid, "There is no time for explainations."

"Who are you?" asked Wedge.

"Call me Charles," said the droid, "But get out of here before they find out something is off!"

"Which way do I go?" Wedge asked.

"There's an exit to the north," said Charles, "Take the minor hallways and avoid the main corridors."

"Which way is north?" Wedge asked.

"That way!" Charles replied pointing in a specific direction.

"Thanks," said Wedge, "I owe you one!"

"Don't mention it," said Charles, "Now leave."

Wedge gave Charles a nod and began to run down the corridor. Charles stood in place and sighed as the alarms went off. Red lights and loud buzzes filled the hallways. A pair of the large, dome-headed, droids stopped in front of him.

"They went that way," said Charles in a monotone voice, misleading the two units in a different direction.

Wedge knew his escape had been detected. He knew he had to get out of there and fast. The patrol droids would most likely be on his trail shortly, so he knew he had to move.

The lights flashed around him as he heard the buzzes from the alarms come from every direction, confusing his senses. He felt dizzy and confused, but managed to push forward.

He had listened to Charles' advice and stayed to the side hallways. He did not really know where he was or where he was going, but he did follow Charles' direction to go north, and go north he did. He made his way through more hallways and chambers, careful to avoid any patrol.

Wedge still wondered about that one droid and why it was so different from the rest. It seemed to go against its own programming and it's speech was not like any droid Wedge has ever encountered; not even the most advanced protocol droid has speech that sounds that natural. But most of all, it identified as a name.

Wedge told himself that there was plenty of time for thinking about it later. This Robotnik he keeps hearing of is obviously bad news and the base's security is most likely very tight. He had to keep moving in order to not be caught.

Wedge ran down a hallway. As he did, he heard clanking noises coming from behind him. He hid behind a corner and took a peek in the hallway behind him. He saw a patrol of the dome-headed droids walking his way. He picked one of the hallways ahead of him and ran down that hallway.

Wedge travelled the minor hallway that he could tell was parallel to the entry corridor. This is when he made a fatal error. He became so excited to see the exit that he forgot about Charle's warning and took a left turn towards the main entrance, right into the main corridor heavily guarded be security systems and droids.

Wedge had almost made it to the main exit when he found himself surrounded by droids. They pointed their mounted guns at him, forcing him to surrender.

After his failed escape, Wedge was escorted by the droids down the corridors.

"Why was I so stupid!?" Wedge asked himself, "I screwed it up!"

Wedge thought they were taking him back to the prison block, but instead they walked right past it. Wedge wondered where the droids were taking him. He was escorted down another corridor which opened up into a large room. The walls of the room were filled with monitors and control pannels. In the center of the room was a large chair faced away from him. The droids let go of Wedge's arms.

"So," said a deep voice from within the room, "You thought you could escape?"

"Robotnik, I persume?" said Wedge.

"That's right!" said Robotnik as he quickly turned around in the chair to face Wedge, "There is no escape from Robotropolis, you fool!"

Robotnik did not look how Wedge expected. Robotnik did look human, but there was something very inhuman about him. He had a deformed head, a soulless stare, and cybernetic ears, eyes, and arm.

"What do you want from me?!" Wedge demanded.

"Not much," Robotnik replied, "Just want to ask some questions."

"Are you working for the Empire?" Wedge asked.

"I'm the only Empire around here," Robotnik said.

"Really?" Wedge scoffed, "You don't look like the Emperor."

"Are you insulting me?" Robotnik asked.

"Nah," said Wedge, "But I'd like to. You're probably just a petty crime lord."

Robotnik got angry.

"Shut up!" Robotnik said, "You will answer my questions, now!"

"If it means me getting out of here," said Wedge.

"Why are you overlanders plotting against me? What are you planning on doing? And where did you develop this technology?" Robotnik asked as he held up the head of Wegde's astromech droid.

"I honestly don't know,what you're talking about," said Wedge, "There is no plot against you!"

"Don't play stupid with me!" Robotnik shouted, "Are you with those miserable Freedom Fighters?"

"No I'm not!" Wedge said, "And I still don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't you play dumbass with me!" Robotnik angrilly shouted, "I have ways of making you talk."

Robotnik pushed a button on the chair's armrest activating the large monitor in the room. A short man in another room appeared on the monitor.

"Snivley!" Robotnik said.

"Yes sir?" Snivley asked.

"Show our guest here what happens to those who defy me!" Robotnik ordered.

"Yes sir," said Snivley, "Right away sir."

Snivley pushed a button on the control panel in front of him.

"Bring in prisoner 6619," said Snivley.

In a few moments, another Mobian was dragged into the room Snivley was in. The Mobian was kicking and screaming in terror. The Mobian was drug over to a a glass tube which was then lowered upon him. Wedge did not know what kind of horrible torture he was about to witness as the Mobian begged for mercy.

Snivley pushed a button on the control panel. Wedge looked on helplessly as a surge of electricity was shot through the Mobian. Wedge did not want to watch, but something began to happen that caught his interest. The Mobian was changing.

Metal began to replace the Mobian's fur. Wedge could hear the Mobian's cries as it happened. Finally, the process was complete. What was once a Mobian was now a machine, with red eyes and metal plates that matched the color of the material they replaced.

"What in the name of!?" Wedge gasped in shock, "You turned him into a droid!"

Wedge was shocked and horrified to what he just witnessed. He wanted to throw up as he watched the Mobian, now droid, mindlessly take commands from Robotnik or Snivley. He realized that the reason those droids looked like Mobians is because they _were_ Mobians. The thought made him sick to his stomach.

"It didn't have to be this way," Robotnik said, "If you hadn't run away, he'd still be flesh."

"What kind of SICK monster are you!?" Wedge asked with much anger.

Robotnik just laughed and grinned.

"Now will you talk?" Robotnik asked.

"I already told you," said Wedge, "I don't know anything! I don't even know what planet I'm on!"

"Is that so?" Robotnik asked.

"Even if I did know something," said Wedge, "I wouldn't tell you anything!"

"Well that's too bad," said Robotnik, "I was feeling merciful and was going to let you leave."

"I won't say anything since I don't know anything," said Wedge.

"I beleive you will tell me," said Robotnik, "After I roboticize you."

"No!" Wedge said.

"You had your chance!" said Robotnik, "Enjoy your last few hours of free will!"

Wedge didn't reply.

"Take him back to his cell!" Robotnik ordered the two dome headed droids.

Wedge was taken back to the prison block. The droids tossed him back into the same cell, locked it, and left. Funnel was still in the cell next to him, who was suprised to see Wedge.

"Man, he didn't roboticize you!" said Funnel, "After trying to escape like that, you'd think he'd feed you into the Roboticizer right away!"

Wedge looked at Funnel with a look of agony. Funnel could tell that Wedge had just witnessed a roboticization for the first time.

Robotniks words continued to echo in Wedge's head. _"It didn't have to be this way. If you hadn't run away, he'd still be flesh."_

"It's all my fault!" said Wedge, "Its all my fault!"

"Dude, get yourself together!" Funnel said.

"It's my fault," said Wedge again.

"No it wasn't!" said Funnel, "Robotnik is the only one to blame!"

Funnel knew he couldn't help Wedge. He could tell the man had already been broken.

Tears began to stream from Wedge's eyes as he cowered into the back of the cell and began to sob.


	6. The Plan

Hiding in the rafters above the chamber, Charles could only watch hopelessly as Wedge was brutally threatened before being thrown back in the prison cell. Charles had seen much pain and suffering in Robotropolis (Charles had suffered the horrors of Robotropolis himself.) However, Charles had rarely seen such a heartwrenching scene as the one he was currently witness to.

The overlander known as Wedge appeared to not know what was taking place or even where he was. Charles felt sorry for the overlander. Even though the Mobians and Overlanders were natural enemies, the prejudice within Charles shrunk every day as he saw both races suffer at the hands of Robotnik. Seeing an overlander being subjected to the horrible fate that normally was intended for Mobians had instantly swept away any little shred of prejudice that still did remain in Charles.

Charles knew he couldn't just do nothing and let Wedge suffer. Charles had attempted to save some of those on roboticization-row many times in the past, but with little success. And because of this he questioned why he was currently prioritizing Wedge over captured Mobians; perhaps it was seeing the emotionally destroyed state the overlander was in or the fact he possibly carried important information which made Charles feel the need to help. And he could also somehow tell that Wedge was different from other overlanders.

Charles carefully snuck out of Robotnik's headquarters and quietly made his way through the smog-filled canyons of Robotropolis. He walked to a junkpile and pulled on a lever which revealed a secret entry way. Charles walked in and it shut behind him. Inside was a small, metal, room that Charles uses as a base of operations. It has a few monitors, as well as a desk with a computer.

Charles sat down at the computer and began to type.

_Dear Nephew,_

_I have a favor to ask of you. I need you to help someone in need. I need to save an overlander, yes an overlander, from Robotnik's grasp. It seems Robotnik has finally turned against his own kind, and I can't stand watching this poor guy suffer._

_He also has a new type of technology and tactics I've never heard of. If Robotnik gets any information out of him, it will be bad for us._

_I know it may seem strange to help and overlander, and I am aware of the crimes they've committed against us in the past. But we've also committed crimes against them. And we are in this war against Robotnik together. _

_Meet me at the decommissioned SWATbot factory on the east side of Robotropolis ASAP. _

_-Your uncle chuck._

Charles printed the letter. He took the letter to a robotic pigeon, rolling the paper up into a fine roll before tying it to the robotic bird.

"Take this to Sonic immedialty," Charles commanded the bird, "He needs to see this."

Charles opened the door and let the pigeon loose. He watched as the pigeon flied into the dark smog clouds in skies of Robotropolis.

Back in Knothole, the trees rustled in the soft breeze as the birds sang their songs. Life in the village itself went about it's daily routine: fishers were fishing and selling their catch. The few farmers were managing crops and tending domestic gurloc in Knothole's single, small, farm. Various other tasks were being performed by he adults while the children continued to play.

However the pleasantness was currently not found within a certian building in Knothole, the main office, where a complete different atmopshere dwelled within. Emotions in the main office consisted of fear, confusion, and shock. Luke was pacing back and forth trying to walk the shock off. He couldn't beleive what Sonic and Sally had just told him.

"When you said 'turn people into robots,'" Luke said in disbelief, "I thought you meant brainwashing them!"

"No," said Sonic, "He literally puts people through his robo-machine and turns them into robotic slaves."

"No!" said Luke, "That should not even be possible! It defies all logic!"

"I agree, it shouldn't be logically possible," said Sally, "But it somehow is."

"But how does it even happen?!" Luke asked.

"We don't even know how it works," said Sonic, "All I know is that it's just not cool."

"The worst part is that the victim is aware the whole time!" said Sally, "They just have no control over their body."

"That is horrible!" Luke said, terrified, "What kind of twisted being would do such a thing?!"

"Robotnik," said Sonic, "That's the sick twisted being."

"I just hope it doesn't happen to Wedge," said Luke, "I can't imagine Wedge being stuck like like that forever!"

"Well it is possible to help someone regain their free will," said Sally, "But it is very difficult."

"Now you can see why we are so eager about fighting against him," said Sonic, "He even Roboticized my uncle."

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Luke said with sympathy.

"No need," said Sonic, "He has regained his free will and control of his actions."

A robotic bird with a roll of paper tied to it's back flew down to Sonic. It rested on Sonic's arm. Sonic removed the paper and unrolled it.

"What is it?" Luke asked.

"Speaking of my uncle," said Sonic, "It looks like we received word from him. He's our spy in Robotropolis."

"What's he saying?" asked Luke out of curiosity.

Sonic read the note as he shook his head. He looked at Luke but couldn't bring himself to say a word.

"What is it?" said Luke.

"I think he found your friend," Sonic said bluntly.

"Give me the details!" Luke demanded.

"Alright," said Sonic, "Robotnik has him and it sounds like he's going to be roboticized."

"What?!" Luke shouted in fear for his friend.

Luke could not beleive the horrifying things he was hearing. It shouldn't even be scientifically possible to turn a living organic being into a droid (or a mindless robot in this case). Luke learning about how badly the victims suffer made him sick, and knowing Wedge was about to meet this fate made the hairs on his body stand up.

"We have to save him now!" said Luke, "I can't let that happen to my friend!"

"I'm sorry," said Sally, "It's too risky!"

"He's my friend!" Luke plead.

"So were many of the people who have been roboticized," said Sally, "They were our friends too, but we couldn't save them."

"I can't let this happen to him," said Luke.

"I'm sorry," said Sally, "We don't have the resources to do such an operation right now. And I doubt anyone would want to risk capture just because we prioritized someone due to emotional bonds."

"You're sounding like you don't care!" Luke yelled.

"I'm not saying that!" said Sally, "I'm saying that we can't do anything about it! The Freedom Fighters are in a deprived state right now and we can't take such risks just to save friends!"

Luke knew Sally was right. Their group is probably too small and currently too short on resources to save Wedge without major risk. Luke knew he had to select a different approach.

"Look at it this way," said Luke, "He has knowledge of technology beyond your understanding. If Robotnik gets a hold of it, it will be devastating for you all."

"He's right," said Sonic.

"Do you really want to risk Robotnik getting hold of the knowledge needed to build and use our technology?" Luke asked.

"I... Think you have a point," said Sally, "Give me some time to think this over."

"Alright," said Luke.

Some time afterwards, Luke and Sonic were sitting with R2 on a bench in the other side of Knothole under the shade of a large, gnarly tree. Sonic sat thinking about what he would do once he got into Robotropolis. R2 was keeping calm. Luke, on the other hand, looked tense and angry.

Luke was wondering whh Sally would not want to save Wedge. Is she being that selfish? Does she think he can't do it? Luke had rescued Princess Leia and escaped the Empire's Death Star: he felt he was perfectly capable of going into this 'Robotropolis' and rescuing Wedge.

"Why does she have to think about it?!" Luke asked with much anger, "I went to save Leia the moment I found out the Empire was holding her!"

"She doesn't want to risk our currently limited resources," said Sonic.

"I navigated and escaped an Imperial facility before!" said Luke, "Robotropolis can't be much different. Me and R2 will go do it ourselves if the Freedom Fighters won't help us!"

Sonic's face went wide-eyed. "Don't say such things!" he said, "Going into Robotropolis is one thing, but marching into the detention block and roboticization chambers is completely different!"

"That's like what Han told me on the Death Star," Luke exclaimed, "But we did it and were successful!"

"Did you do it alone?" asked Sonic.

"Han helped, and so did Chewbacca and Ben," said Luke, "And Leia also helped after we saved her. And cant forget the droids."

"It sounds like you had a little team there," Sonic pointed out, "You probably wouldn't have done it if you were alone. If Robotropolis is no different from your 'Imperial facilities' as you claim, then you'll need a team there too."

"I'll take R2 with me," said Luke.

"Look," said Sonic, "I admit I sometimes can be arrogant and think I can take on Robotropolis all by myself, but I've been in and out of there many times. You don't know what it's like!"

"Then come with me!" said Luke.

"I can't," said Sonic, "Not even I have the guts to go into the main headquarters alone."

"Then get a team!" said Luke.

"We have to wait for Sally to agree to gather forces and plan an attack," said Sonic.

"Why is she being so stubborn about it?!" Luke said, "Is she not want to help him?!"

"As I said before, it's not that she doesn't want to help him," said Sonic.

"Then what is it?" Luke asked

"Listen carefully," said Sonic, "Sally has been through and awful lot in her days fighting Robotnik."

"Why do I get the feeling you're trying to tell me about something specific?" asked Luke, "What exactly happened?"

"It all started with a failed mission to our agent: Cat," said Sonic, "The whole thing shook her confidence."

"I didn't know," said Luke apologetically.

"She hasn't been the same since the incident," said Sonic, "It was a huge loss, costing us resources and comerades. And it was under her watch."

"How hasn't she been the same?" Luke asked.

"Well she never plans missions by herself anymore," said Sonic, "She trusts herself less, and she tries to avoid certian areas altogether. She has nervous breakdowns every time she has to return to the scene of the incident."

"Must have been very bad," said Luke.

"She doesn't like to talk about it," said Sonic, "And it's best not to bring it up with her."

"So what does this mean for this?" asked Luke, "Surley she can't let her feelings get ahead of her when it comes to this."

"Well, your friend holds critical knowledge and my uncle is planning on meeting us," said Sonic, "Sally won't be able to say no to these circumstances."

"Then what's taking her so long?" asked Luke.

"She's probably having her breakdown as we speak," said Sonic, "She needs to process the idea of going back there."

"And it takes this long?" said Luke.

"She's probably also taking her time to make a draft for the plan," said Sonic, "She wants to be careful. She doesn't want to fail again and lose someone else like we lost Cat."

"Wedge can't wait any longer," said Luke.

"Just give her a few minutes," said Sonic.

A few moments later, Sally came running over to the two. She stopped in front of them.

"Listen," said Sally, "I think I have a few ideas, but I need us all to help formulate a plan."

"That's great!" said Sonic.

Sally looked at Luke. "I... Apologize for earlier..." she said in an apologetic tone, "I know I upset you, but..."

"It's alright," said Luke, "No need to feel guilty."

"Let's get down to buisiness," said Sally, "R2."

R2 projected a holographic map of Robotropolis on the forest floor in front of the small group. Sally and the others looked over it.

"Uncle Chuck said he'd meet us here!" said Sonic pointing to a certian spot on the map.

"And the prison cells are in and around the main building here," said Sally, as she pointed out another specific location.

"And what ideas do you have?" asked Luke.

"I think our best bet is to enter through this emergency exit here," said Sally, "It's the closest entrance to the cell block area that we can reach from our starting point at the abandoned factory."

"Sounds simple enough," said Luke.

"But the doors are security-locked," said Sally, "We don't have the codes to get in."

"R2 can hack it," said Luke, "Hes good at that sort of thing."

"Wonderful," said Sally, "Because there are two panels and they need to both be accessed at once to work."

"Sounds like Robotnik doubled his security," Sonic joked.

"What will we do about that?" asked Luke.

"R2 will handle the primary panel," said Sally, "Me and Nicole will hack the secondary."

"Think you can do that R2?" Luke asked.

The astromech emitted an affirmative beep.

"But our next problem will of course be the SWATbots and Robians on patrol," said Sally.

"Well just smash the SWATbots," said Sonic.

"And the Robians too?" Luke asked.

"NO!" Sally said, "Destroying SWATbots is one thing, but Robians are different."

"I must not know what a Robian is then," Luke asked, "What are they and how are they different?"

"Robians are Mobians who have been roboticized," said Sally, "Robotnik likes to station them on patrol around the most critical areas since he knows it is not morally right for us to destroy them."

"And what about the SWATbots?" asked Luke.

"They are not Robians," said Sally, "But they are the bulk of Robotnik's army. They are built for combat; very dangerous."

"Do you have any weapons to use against them?" asked Luke.

"Whatever we can get our hands on," said Sally, "We have some guns in our armory, but bullets are useless against their armor, really."

Luke was actually surprised to hear that the Mobians still used projectile gun technology. He figured since they had holographic technology they would be advanced enough to have blasters, or at least laser technology.

Luke then remembered it was rather primitive lasers which had taken down Rogue Squadron; the Rebel pilots had only been shot down because they were caught off guard and didn't have the chance to get their sheilds up to maximum. Luke figured perhaps laser technology exists on Mobius to some extent.

"I have just the thing to take care of your robots," said Luke.

Luke went to his emergency supply backpack. He rummaged around in it and pulled out three shiny metal pistols. He came back to Sonic and Sally and put one in each of their hands.

"I told you that guns don't work," said Sally.

"These are different," said Luke, "These are ion blasters."

"What's an ion blaster?" Sally asked.

"They fire a particle beam like normal blasters," said Luke, "But they are specialized for taking out electronics."

"What's a blaster?" asked Sally.

Luke set down his blaster rifle. "Blasters are weapons that fire particle beams," said Luke, "Such as this rifle here. They are not to be confused with lasers though."

"And what can they do against the SWATbots?" asked Sonic.

"As I said," said Luke, "Ion-type blasters will take out a SWATbot in a single hit."

"Cool," said Sonic.

"We could use them against the Robians too," Luke added.

"But we don't want to kill the Robians!" said Sonic, "They are our friends!"

"Robians are not like normal robots or what you call 'droids'," said Sally, "They have souls. If they are destroyed or their critical systems are fried, their soul departs... Then they can't be revived!"

"Calm down," said Luke, "For Robians you can change the setting so it just knocks them out for a bit."

"How do we do that?" asked Sonic.

Luke pointed to the dial on the sides of the ion blasters. He twisted one of the dials. "Put it here for when dealing with Robians," said Luke, "And feel free to crank it all the way to maximum for dealing with SWATbots or otherwise."

"Well," said Sonic, "It seems like we have a new way to deal with SWATbots."

"But.. I'm not exactly a great shot," said Sally nervously, "I can't handle the recoil."

"On blaster-type weapons there will be some recoil from the reaction that produces the particle beam," said Luke, "But still far less recoil than the projectile weaponry you are used to."

"Ah, right," said Sally as she weighed the ion blaster in her hand, "It's a lot lighter too."

"Made from some of the most light and durable alloys in the galaxy," said Luke, "Courtesy of the BlasTech corporation."

Luke turned his attention back to the blaster rifle. "This is a normal blaster that is used against organic beings," said Luke, "It can still pierce metal, so it's still usable against robots. But not as effective against electronics as ion blasters."

"We could still use it to put a big hole in Robotnik's head!" said Sonic.

"Calm down, Sonic," said Sally, "I hate him too, but emotions can get in the way of the task at hand!"

"Alright," said Sonic, "But if I get the chance... I'll do something."

"We all feel the same," said Sally, "But it unfortunately isn't thst easy."

"What is anymore?" Sonic asked himself, "It's bad enough Robotnik has a bajillion security doors in his HQ alone."

"Wait," said Luke, "Can't we use my lightsaber to cut the security doors?"

"The security doors are thick," said Sally, "You won't be able to cut the main doors, at least not before SWATbots discover you and surround you."

"Understood," said Luke.

"Remember what we are doing once we get in?" asked Sally.

"I'll go for Wedge," said Luke.

"I'm going with you!" said Sally.

"I thought you said you were going to go around and cut off the guards," said Luke.

"I changed my mind," said Sally. She stuttered a moment, "I don't think I can handle all those SWATbots by myself."

"What about me?" asked Sonic, "I can help you."

"We need you to take out this power hub on the west of the building to kill the primary security systems and the Roboticizer," said Sally, "Me and Luke will then only have a short window of time to bypass all main hazards."

"And R2?" Luke asked.

"After hacking the pannels he should probably scout the immediate area for other security systems and computers to hack," said Sally, "Basically he should help us in any way possible. He will blend in well in Robotropolis."

"Wait," said Luke, "Is it wise to send Sonic after that power hub on his own?"

"You've never seen what Sonic can do," said Sally, grinning.

"I'll handle it," said Sonic, "Although I could use Bunnie's help moving things around in there."

"Got it," said Sally.

"I know this question sounds out of nowhere," said Luke, "But where did Bunnie get her cybernetics anyways? She doesn't want to tell me for some reason."

"She is actually half-roboticized," said Sally.

"I saved her from the Roboticizer just in time," said Sonic.

"Wow," said Luke, "I didn't know."

"Her enhanced strength does prove to be useful though," said Sally, "At a great emotional cost for her, though."

"I can imagine," said Luke.

"Yeah," said Sonic.

"But back on subject," said Luke, "How are we going to clear the target area and quickly?"

"I think this calls for a good old diversion," said Sonic, "A few of the guys should blast this refinery over here, drawing the SWATbots out of our target zone."

"That's not a bad idea actually," said Sally, "It's risky, but still is pretty good!"

"But the refinery should be hit first," said Sonic, "Then me and Bunnie will do our attack on the power hub, which should split the SWATbot forces in half."

"I like your thinking, hedgehog!" Sally exclaimed.

"You like everything about me," said Sonic flashing his green eyes toward Sally, "Admit it."

Sally scoffed, "Whatever. Let's just keep on topic."

"Fine," said Sonic,

"After the stations are destroyed we will recieve the signal and proceed," said Sally.

"Do we have a plan then?" asked Luke.

"I think so," said Sally, "But I need to discuss it with the others."

"It's decided then," said Luke, "When do we leave."

"This afternoon, hopefully," said Sally.

An hour passed since the plan was set, although to Luke it felt like an eternity. Luke was sitting nervously on the bank of a natural pool. Not even the crisp wind whistling through the canopies, the sounds of wildlife, or laughter of children could help to ease Luke's tension. Luke blocked all these external noises out, he only kept thinking about what he would do once he got into Robotropolis.

What if he was too late? What if Wedge had already been roboticized when they arrived. Would he have to kill Wedge to prevent Robotnik from getting knowledge of their technology? Would Luke himself be Robotnik's new target?

Luke shook the thoughts out of his head and thought more about how he would pull off his part of the operation. He immediately thought of the time a few months ago when he had escaped the Death Star.

"I just got lucky on the Death Star," said Luke as he threw a pebble into the pool in front of him.

"As I told you before, Luke," a disembodied voice spoke to Luke, "There is no such thing as luck."

Luke immediately recgonized the familiar voice. "Ben?" he asked, "Listen, there was no other way I could have survived on that battlestation but luck!"

"Luck is an illusion, Luke," said Obi Wan's voice, "You either have what it takes or you don't. And even if you don't have what it takes, you can still better yourself so you do."

"Says you," said Luke.

"It was your skills saved you on the Death Star," said Obi Wan's voice, "Not luck."

"How can you even be talking to me right now!?" Luke asked.

"This pool is strong with the Force," said Obi Wan's voice, "It's because of this I can communicate with you right now."

"How did I even end up in this mess?" Luke asked, "I'll never get Wedge out of there."

"Don't be so sure, Luke," said Obi Wan's voice, "Think of Mobius as one of the many trials you will face on your journey to become a Jedi."

"You're saying the Force brought me here?" Luke said as he threw another stone, "Typical."

"I never said it was the Force that brought you here, Luke," said Obi Wan's voice voice as it tapered off.

"What do you mean?" asked Luke.

Luke received no reply.

"Ben?" Luke asked, "Ben?!"

"Luke, who are you talking to?" asked a familiar voice.

Luke turned his head to see Sonic standing behind him. He was a bit shocked to see the blue Mobian, but also a little embarrassed. Sonic clearly did not hear Obi Wan's voice, and possibly thought Luke was going crazy.

"Uh... No one," Luke said.

"I saw you talking to yourself so I decided to come over," Sonic said, "Is something bothering you?"

"It's nothing," said Luke, "Just under a lot of stress."

"I can tell," said Sonic.

"I have a question," said Luke, "What is the significance of this pool?"

"This is the ring pool," said Sonic, "Down deep there is a mysterious power stone. It creates rings made of pure power."

"What kind of power?" Luke asked.

"Hard to describe," said Sonic, "But for some reason, only a few, including me, can use them."

"I see," said Luke.

"How could you even tell there was something significant about the pool?" Sonic asked.

"I guess I just can tell that the Force is present around it," Luke half-lied.

"You can tell that?" Sonic asked.

"I really don't know," said Luke, "I have a lot on my mind."

"Just so you know," said Sonic, "We gathered the forces and are ready to move out."

Later Sonic and Luke met up with Sally, Bunnie, and a few others. They gathered at the edge of Knothole beside a fallen, moldy log situated next to a cold cliff. The Mobians and single human discussed the plan.

"First you guys will take out this factory over here," Sally said to a few mobians, including Geoffery, "This should draw out most of the SWATbots from the target zone."

"Right," said a few voices in the group.

"Then Nicole and R2 will simultaneously hack into the two control pannels in front of the side entrance," Sally said, "Think you can do that?"

R2 beeped.

"He said he will figure it out," said Nicole.

"Wonderful," said Sally.

"After Sally and Luke get in," Sonic said, "Me and Bunnie will fry the power hub disabling the grid."

"I don't know," Bunnie said, "This plan sounds dangerous. We will be put out in the open where the SWATbots can find us."

"Luckily our alien buddy is supplying us with the technological advantage needed," said Sonic, "Luke, the weapons."

Luke handed each Mobian an ion blaster pistol: the three from his emergency pack and the three from Wes' emergency pack. He took the blaster rifle for himself, as well as his lightsaber.

"Will these do any good?" Bunnie asked as she closely looked at the silver pistol, "The SWATbots' armor is too strong for bullets."

"But these things are different," said Sonic, "They are mondo-cool. They will juice a SWATbot in one hit!"

Bunnie looked at Luke. "Can they really do that, sugah?"

"Yes," said Luke, "They can even be adjusted to temporarily knock out Robians."

"It sounds to me that you are trying to get us killed," Geoffrey accused, "Us against all those SWATbots? You're kidding."

"Yes," said Luke, "But this time you have weapons that can easilly take out hordes of them."

"He's right, Geoff," said Sally, "SWATbots are mass produced and are designed to overwhelm. They are not individually programmed with coordinated aim. If we can keep shooting many of them down then their whole advantage falls apart."

"Sally's right on it," said Luke, "And with these ion blasters you should be able to mow them down at least 10x faster than you normally do."

"Not good enough," said Geoffrey, "Robotnik's special units will then be on top of us after he discovers the SWATbots are being destroyed at a high rate."

"Well these weapons will let you last against these 'special units' long enough until it's time to retreat," Luke explained with a grumble under his voice.

"You want us to go out in the open," Geoffery said, "You're even more brainless than I thought."

"It was SONIC and SALLY's idea to put you out in the open!" Luke said, "Don't blame it on me!"

"Probably because you gave it them," Geoffrey said, "Not even Sonic's tactics alone are this wreckless."

"LISTEN HERE!" Luke shouted at Geoffrey to the entire group's surprise. Even Geoffrey looked suprised.

"I've been through things you haven't," Luke said, "I've fought my way out of and destroyed a planet-killing superweapon; I've survived legions of imperial forces! If you think I don't know what I'm doing then so be it! But this is what's happening."

"Fine," said Geoffery, "But if we lose anyone on this mission, this is the last mission I'm going on that was planned with your input."

"Have it you're way," said Luke, "If this fails, I won't give Sally any more ideas. Okay?"

"Luke, don't say that," Sally said. Her voice then turned to a whimper "Even the missions I plan myself fail sometimes."

"You mean like the botched mission to save Cat?" Luke asked.

Sally was taken by complete suprise. "How... How did you know about that?!" Sally asked, "Sonic. Did you tell him?!"

"It's okay," said Luke, "We all have made mistakes we are ashamed of."

"We lost comeades on that mission to save our Intelligence agent, Cat," said Sally, "But it failed and he was Roboticized. How could I have been so stupid!? I knew we should have disabled the Roboticizer first!"

"What's done is done, Sally," said Luke, "We will talk about that later. Now we need to focus on what's going on right now and save Wedge."

"Just like how we tried to save Cat?" said Geoffrey, "This is a suicide mission."

"Geoffery," said Sally, "Listen. Luke's input into this plan isn't any more wreckless than Sonic's."

"And we all know Sonic is wreckless," commented Geoffrey.

"Sonic may seem wreckless but his ideas and excecutions actually work," said Sally, "We've seen less casualties ever since Sonic began directly helping me with pre-battle plans. It's becaue of Sonic's tactics we haven't had another Cat."

"I'm not número-uno on Robotnik's hitlist for no reason," Sonic said.

"Luke's plan sounds risky, yes, but it's worth giving a try," said Sally, "But remember he's seen his fair share of battles where he is from."

"If we do not pull this off correctly then it will be Cat all over again," said Sonic, "So we have to give it a shot! At least try."

"And remember Wedge holds the information needed to understand and work our technology," said Luke, "If he gets a hold of it, then it could spell the end to you."

Geoffery scoffed and looked to the side. "Fine..." he just said, "I'll go along with it."

"Good," said Sally.

"As you were saying?" Sonic asked, reminding Sally of the previous topic.

"Oh, yes," said Sally, "Once inside the chambers, I will cut off the guards and Luke will go get Wedge. After Wedge is rescued, the order to retreat will be given and we will all meet at the rendezvous point."

"Let's move out!" said Sonic.

Some time after the group moved out, Charles stood in the doorway of a delapitated building near the edge of Robotropolis. He looked out onto the barren deadened hills for any sign of life. He looked as far as the point where the smog broke up into blue sky.

Eventually he did see a group come over the horizon. He figured it must be the Freedom Fighters. He waited for them to come. The group eventually made it to Charles. As he suspected it was the Freedom Fighters, but to his surprise an overlander was among them. The overlander also looked surprised to see him.

"I'm glad you all came," said Charles, "Was beginning to think you never would."

"Glad to see you too, uncle Chuck," said Sonic.

"You have the plan on how we are going to bust out the overlander?" Charles asked.

"We certainly do," said Sonic.

"And who is this with you?" Charles asked.

"This is the prisoner's buddy," said Sonic, "He wanted to tag along. To save his friend."

"I'm Luke Skywalker," Luke said, "Wedge Antilles, the prisoner, is my friend and comerade."

"I see," said Charles, "And how did he wind up in this mess and how did you end up with the freedom fighters? Being an overlander and all."

Luke proceeded to tell Charles the story about who he was and where he came from. He told Charles about the Empire and the Rebellion. He told Charles how he had been shot down by Robotnik's drones the other night and now he knew he had to help when Wedge had been captured.

Charles gVe Luke an odd look. Luke was afraid that Charles would most likely not beleive him and think he is crazy. Charles nodded as Luke went along.

"Well, your story seems pretty far fetched," said Charles, "But my nephew believes you, so I guess you're telling the truth."

"You beleive me?" Luke asked.

"Well Sonic is very hard to fool," said Charles, "But will discuss your story later. Right now we have someone who needs rescuing."

"Right," said Luke.

"So what's the plan?" Charles asked.

Sally explained the plan to Charles.

"I'll do what I can to help," said Charles, "But we will meet back here, right?"

"Right," said Sally.

The group proceeded to advance into the fog-choked canyons of Robotropolis.


	7. Rescue Pt 1

The brave Freedom Fighters ventured into the gloomy depths of Robotropolis. The sky of the industrial city was filled with emissions from the countless factories. The unnatural clouds were thick and dark as if a storm was coming, but a storm would never come. The streets were bathed in permanent twilight.

The Freedom Fighters turned around a corner at an intersection and were suprised by the sight of an approaching SWATbot patrol. They hid in an alleyway and kept low as the patrol passed. After the SWATbots moved on with their programmed protocol, the Mobians emerged back into the smoggy streets.

Luke took a breath of the polluted. He coughed and gagged as the foul atmopshere entered his lungs.

"I think I'm getting sick!" said Luke while he gagged. He felt like he was going to throw up. "What... Kind of air is this?!"

"It's all the crap spewing out of Robotnik's bot factories," said Sonic as he held his nose.

"How can you even stand these conditions?!" Luke said while masking his face with his hand, "Haven't you ever thought of your health!?"

"Trust me," said Sonic, "It's no way comfortable. But you get used to it."

"But this still can't be good for you!" Luke said.

"It's not," said Sonic, "Thats the point. Robotnik has been killing Mobius' ecosystem since day one. But if we don't do something about it, no one will."

"Hasn't Robotnik ever heard of hypermatter power generators?" Luke asked, "Hypermatter reactors create lots of power for an entire city with minimal pollutants."

"I don't think he has heard of those," said Sonic as the Freedom Fighters moved forth again. "And I don't think he'd care either," Sonic added.

"I mean, Wedge dtected large amounts of pollution when we were coming in," said Luke, "But I had no idea it was THIS bad!"

"Once again you can blame Robotnik," said Sonic, "That hunk of lard has no consideration for life on the planet."

"I can see that," Luke said as he coughed.

The group arrived at another intersection and stopped. Sally turned her attention to the group. The group returned their attention to her.

"Okay people," Sally said, "This is it. We only have one chance to pull this off. So let's make it count!"

"Right!" said Bunnie.

"I'll take Luke and R2 and head for the central building," said Sally.

"Do you think it's wise to send someone to the central building during their first trip into Robotropolis?" asked Bunnie.

"He has lots of experience in hostile places by the sounds of it," said Sally, "I think he will do fine."

"Oh right," said Bunnie, "But I'll give y'all a word of advice, Luke. SWATbots are not very intelligent. They don't learn."

"Got it," said Luke, "Thank you. I appreciate it."

"As I was saying," said Sally, "Sonic and Bunnie will take out the power hub. And everyone else go with Geoffery to create a diversion!"

"Let's move out!" said Sonic.

The group split up into different teams. Each team traveled down a different street at the intersection. Luke and R2 followed Sally down the forward street. Luke looked ahead into the dark street, the haze obscured his veiw.

"Wow," said Sally as they walked along, "The pollution is REALLY bad today... It happens with calm wind..."

"It's horrible!" said Luke, "How can anyone live in this?!"

R2 beeped a few chimes.

"You're lucky you're a droid," said Luke, "You don't have to smell this. But regardless, I'm still getting Wedge out of here! I won't let this stop me!"

Luke looked around at his surroundings as they walked along. At a certian point, the industrial factories began to mix with older buildings. Luke could tell that the older buildings were probably once beautiful, but are now long since subjugated to time and neglect. Their windows were broken, their paint and details corroding, and some of the buildings themselves tipping on their foundations. Some of the buildings even already collapsed.

Luke heard crunching beneath his feet as if he were walking on dry leaves. He looked down to see broken shards of glass, wood, and bricks scattered across the asphalt ground. Luke also began to notice features like sidewalks and light features. He looked around at the part of Robotropolis, seeing what was probably once a beautiful scene was now little more than a fragment of the past.

"Wow," said Luke, "This place is a dump... But feels kind of sad... As if something terrible happened here."

"It wasn't always a dump," said Sally as she shed a tear, "Once this used to be the most beautiful city on the planet, and my home."

"I'm so sorry," said Luke, "What happened?"

"Robotnik!" said Sally, "That's what happened! I hate coming to this district!"

"Geez," said Luke, "I'm sorry for asking,"

"No need to aplogize," said Sally, "Just too many memories here."

Sally walked over to what Luke could tell were the ruins of an old food stand of some sort.

"This is where me and Sonic were when it happened," said Sally as if she were mourning, "Having a good old time here at Charles' chili dog stand."

"Chili dogs?" Luke asked.

"Charles made good chili dogs, made from pure organic gurloc meat," Sally said. She then began to laugh, "Of course Sonic would always chow them down and persuade me to join in!"

"I see," said Luke.

"But then... Everything changed," Sally said. Sally paused for a moment and put her face down on the stand's counter. "I never was there to tell Daddy goodbye."

Sally fell silent. R2 came up from behind her and nudged her while beeping a sequence of binary that Luke could somewhat understand to an extent. R2 got no response save for a sigh from Sally. R2 nudged Sally again.

"R2 is right," said Luke, "We should get going. Wedge can't wait much longer."

Sally lifted her head from the counter. Luke walked away as Sally silently began to follow and take the lead once more.

A short wile later into their trek, Luke decided to ask questions again.

"How exactly did he take over?" Luke asked.

"It's a long story," said Sally, "I'll..."

Popping noises were heard and trails of bullets suddenly began to fly by.

"...TELL YOU LATER!" Sally finished as she went into combat mode.

A patrol of what Luke guessed were SWATbots appeared from around one of the nearby street corners.

"Hault," said one of the SWATbots in a monotone voice, "You are trespassing. Come with us or be eliminated!"

"Are those...?" Luke asked.

"SWATbots!" Sally said, "Run!"

The duo ran down the street and around a corner as the SWATbots were in pursuit. Luke looked behind them and saw the droid-like machines still chasing them.

"Use the ion blaster!" Luke said.

"Im looking for cover!" Sally said as another hail of bullets flew over them.

Sally spotted a narrow alleyway in between two of the rundown buildings. She and Luke ran into the narrow gap, knocking down old, long-unused trash cans in their hurry.

Sally jumped and ducked behind a dumpster. Luke followed. Sally gripped the ion blaster and put her finger near the trigger. The SWATbots entered the alley. "Show yourselves," they said in their monotone voices, "You are under arrest by order of Robotnik."

"What am I aiming for?" Sally whispered.

"It doesn't matter where you hit them," said Luke, "As long as you hit them with an ion blast, they will short out!"

"Right!" said Sally.

Sally jumped from behind the dumpster and aimed at the SWATbots. She pulled the trigger. Blue flashes of light illuminated the alleyway as blue pulses of ionized plasma were emitted from the muzzle of the blaster. The pulses flew toward their targets. One of the ion blasts hit a SWATbot. The SWATbot began to spark and it's systems began to fail before it collapsed to the ground as a dead metal husk.

Sally was most impressed by the weapon's effectiveness. Never before had she seen a SWATbot go down so easily. She took a moment to take the awe in and then shot the other two SWATbots. They both went down just like the first.

"Wow," said Sally as she looked over the fried metal husks that were once SWATbots.

"Let's move!" said Luke.

Unexpected to Luke and Sally, R2 went to one of the SWATbots and extended his computer probe.

"R2," said Luke, "What are you doing?"

R2 opened up one of the SWATbot's head hatches and inserted the computer probe into it's main CPU. The astromech droid beeped to Luke.

"What was that, R2?" Luke asked.

R2 beeped again.

"He said he is extracting the codes and other data," said Nicole, "Honestly, this is brilliant. This little guy is a genius!"

"Smart thinking, R2," said Sally. She turned her attention back to Luke, "You sure got yourself a trusty companion here."

"Well he did save me once," said Luke.

R2 turned his head to Luke and clicked.

"Or twice," said Luke.

R2 clicked a few and beeped a few more times.

"Okay, fine," said Luke, "He saved me quite a few times. He's a quick thinker and is pretty smart for a droid."

"I can tell," said Nicole.

"This is excellent," said Sally, "This will save us a lot of time!"

"Great," said Luke.

"I'll alert the others," said Sally.

Meanwhile, Geoffery St. John and his squad were in a nearby district running through the smoggy industrial canyons while being pursued by a squad of five SWATbots.

"Damnit," Geoffery said, "We haven't even seen the full brunt yet and this is already crazy."

"Shouldn't we use the weapons Luke gave us, sir?" asked a feline mobian in the group.

"Hershey," said Geoff, "For all we know they may not even work!"

"Doesn't hurt to try," said Hershey, "I don't care what you say, it's a life or death situation!"

Hershey drew her ion blaster and aimed it at the SWATbots. "Draw your weapons!" she said.

"I didn't give any such order!" said Geoffery, "Keep moving forward!"

"Sometimes you have to defy orders and make the decision you feel is right!" said Hershey, "Thats what leadership is about!"

Regardless of Geoffery's disapproval, the other Mobians drew their ion blasters and fired upon the incoming SWATbots. The blue plasma pulses flew through the air and caught the SWATbots in an ionic frenzy. Upon being hit by the bolts, the SWATbots began to flash and spark. They all eventually failed and fell down to the ground in a metallic heap.

"Wow..." said Hershey, "He wasn't kidding when he said one shot."

"That was very unwise of you," said Geoferry, "The 'Luke' guy clearly has a deathwish, so don't follow it!"

"But it worked," said Hershey, "These ion blaster things work. We usually would never have taken down so many SWATbots so quickly."

"Well we can't risk doing that again!" said Geoffrey

Sally's voice spoke through Geoffrey's communicator. "Come in Geoffery, come in."

"Yes, love, what is it?" Geoffrey asked.

"Change of plans," said Sally, "R2 extracted the entry codes. Now we should be able to get in without taking time to hack the panels, so we are going to need that factory blown up a lot sooner! Over!"

"Over on out," said Geoffery as he deactivated the communicator, "That Luke person really does have a deathwish."

Meanwhile in yet another district of Robotropolis, Sonic and Bunnie were working on their part of the operation. They walked down the greyed urban canyons until they emerged into an open lot. They looked around at the empty lot that surrounded them.

"See anything yet, Sugahog?" Bunnie asked.

"Not yet," said Sonic, "It's around here somewhere though. I'm sure we will see something pretty soon here."

They looked at the lot more closely. The lot was lined with the dilapidated husks of the original Mobotropolis buildings, their warm hue had now given away to an ugly grey shade of age and mistreatment. Inside the parameter of the lot was dotted with dead trees and pieces of wood and debris. A wrecked statue of the former King Maxamillian Acorn stood in the center of the lot.

Sonic shook his head.

"Whats wrong, Sugah?" Bunnie asked.

"Don't you remember this place?" Sonic asked.

"I don't think we've ever came this way before, no," Bunnie replied.

"No," said Sonic, "I mean, I remember this place when it was still Mobotropolis."

"You really remember that far back?" Bunnie asked as the two mobians paced through the lot.

"Well, it's a blur," Sonic said, "It's only a memory. But I remember."

"What do you remember?" Bunnie asked.

"Well Mom and Dad would always take me to this park," said Sonic, "Before they died."

"I see," said Bunnie, "I don't remember much of it. Maybe because I didn't come here too much."

"Well my Mom and Dad always did," said Sonic, "Uncle chuck told me that this is where I first learned how to run. When Mom and Dad died uncle Chuck is the one who took care of me."

"Sugahog," said Bunnie, "Why are you telling me all this now?"

"Sorry," said Sonic, "It's just that when I go through these old spots I get a little emotional."

"I understand," said Bunnie, "But we should hustle."

"Yeah," said Sonic, "We should probably get out of here before Robotnik's 'sky eyes' spot us."

"Right," said Bunnie.

Sonic and Bunnie ran to get out of the remains of the park. As they were running along, they began to hear a drone-like noise coming in from the west.

"Stealthbots!" said Sonic, recognizing the noise, "Hide!"

Bunnie and Sonic ran through the dead park looking for cover. The buzzing noises came closer and closer. Sonic and Bunnie looked up and saw two stealthbot drones come from the west.

Sonic and Bunnie searched for cover, but couldn't find any. They desperately looked around until they spotted a cobblestone bridge spanning over a tainted stream.

"There!" Sonic said.

The two mobians ran and hid under the bridge for cover. The stealthbots flew around and circled the park.

"What are they doing?" Bunnie asked.

"Must be the air patrol that was sent to investigate the 'minor' disturbance we are causing," said Sonic as he equipped the ion blaster, "But don't worry, they won't be around long enough to report anything back."

"What are you doing?" Bunnie asked.

"Seeing if these things actually work," said Sonic as he tried to aim the ion blaster at the stealthbots. "Can't get a good shot from here," he said, "I'm going to need to bring them in closer."

Sonic came out from under the bridge and looked at the stealthbots.

"Oh yoo hoo!" yelled Sonic, mocking the stealthbots.

The Stealthbots turned their attention toward Sonic and began to fly toward him.

"Hedgehog Alert: Priority One!" the Stealthbots said in their monotone voices. They began to fire their laser guns at the blue hedgehog. Sonic quick-stepped to avoid the shots.

Once the stealthbots were close enough, Sonic wielded the ion blaster. He squeezed the trigger sending the ionized blue pulses at the stealthbots. A few well-placed shots hit their targets.

Upon being it by the ion blasts, the stealthbots dropped out of the sky and crashed into the ground.

"Wow," said Sonic as he looked at the ion blaster, "These are more effective than I thought."

"Holy cows in a barn," said Bunnie, "They went down in a single shot..."

"I actually think these are all we need to turn the tide in this war," said Sonic.

Sonic's communicator began to beep. Sonic held it in his hand and pushed the red button on the side. Sally's voice came through the device.

"Sonic, Bunnie, come in!" said Sally, "Come in!"

"Yeah, we're here," said Sonic, "Is everything alright?"

"Positive," said Sally, "These ion blaster deals are really giving us the upper hand!"

"Agreed," said Sonic, "But we will see how effective they really are when the full wave shows up."

"Listen," said Sally, "There has been a slight change of plans."

"Are you sure everything is alright?" Sonic asked, "Should I come over?"

"No," said Sally, "I assure you everything is fine. More than fine actually."

"What's going on then?" asked Sonic.

"This little R2 guy has extracted the codes from the SWATbots," said Sally, "We will be able to get in much quicker."

"Good to hear," said Sonic.

"But we are also going to need that station down much sooner!" said Sally, "Do you copy?"

"I hear ya," said Sonic, "I am on it, over on out!"

Sonic grabbed Bunnie's arm.

"We have to juice!" said Sonic before he ran off with Bunnie at high velocity.

Luke, Sally, and R2 travelled further into the smog-choked depths of Robotropolis. The smog got thicker and the air got more unbreathable as they went on. The two organics coughed and gagged as they breathed in the putrid air.

"I could kill for a breeze to clear up the smog right now!" said Sally, "It's always worse when it's calm like this!"

"No kidding!" said Luke, "As I said earlier, how can anyone live in this?!"

"None of us can," said Sally, "Robotnik is slowly turning the whole planet into a polluted hellhole."

"Not even Imperial industrial planets are this bad!" said Luke, "It's horrible!"

"These are the kind of atrocities us Freedom Fighters fight against," said Sally as she put on a breath mask.

"Why does Robotnik need all these power plants and factories?"

"To produce his war machines to keep his rule strengthened," said Sally.

"I don't get it," said Luke, "As I said earlier, one hypermatter generator should be able to power the whole city." Luke put on his breath mask and tightend it. "Hell," Luke added, "A hypermatter generator could power the whole region. And with no pollution."

"I don't think clean power is exactly what he's going for," said Sally, "He thinks by gradually destroying the ecosystem, he will deprive any resistance into submission. Although it may be that he just want us all to suffer."

"What's he to gain from any of this?" Luke asked.

"No one knows," said Sally, "All we know is that Robotnik must be toppled."

R2 whirred behind Sally and Luke.

"What is it, R2?" Luke asked.

R2 beeped and spun his head. Luke turned his head to the side. He looked down an alleyway in between two brick buildings. "There!" he said.

Sally looked in the same direction and saw a guard of SWATbots and a couple robians in front of a large metal door.

"Luke," said Sally, "This is it."

Luke looked through the alleyway and on the other side of the street At monstrosity of a building that stood before them. It was a tall, egg shaped skyscraper that reached into the layer of smog. It was hideous in Luke's eyes, it looked as if it lacked any passion or purpose, and seemed to be built from poor taste.

Luke and Sally hid back behind a brick wall to evade the SWATbot's sight.

"What is that hideous building?" Luke asked.

"Robotnik's headquarters," said Sally, "Your friend is being held inside."

"Robotnik doesn't have a taste in architecture, does he?" Luke asked.

"No he doesn't," said Sally, "Here used to stand Castle Acorn. The palace of the Mobian royalty, but Robotnik tore it down and replaced it with this... Monstrosity."

"I see," said Luke, "But what do we do about the guards? Should we pick them off?"

"We could probably pick off the immediate guards," said Sally, "But all the other guards in the area will be alerted."

"What do we do about that?" Luke asked.

"Thats why we're hoping Geoffery's diversion works," said Sally, "That way all the forces in this area will be drawn out."

"Right," said Luke.

Sally took out her communicator and pushed a button on it. "Geoffery," Sally spoke into the device, "Geoffery, we need that factory blown now!"

Meanwhile, Geoffery and his crew were being ambushed by three separate patrols of SWATbots. Geoffery's crew took cover while Geoffery attempted to shoot the SWATbots with his ion blaster.

"I can't belive I'm using this damn thing," said Geoffery as he fired several shots at the SWATbots. He then took cover when his communicator beeped.

"Geoffery," Sally's voice spoke through the device, "Geoffery. What are you doing? We need that factory blown NOW!"

"We got intercepted!" said Geoffery, "We will get it blown as soon as we can!"

Hershey shot her ion blaster at a pair of incoming SWATbots. Both robots were deactivated by the blasts and collapsed to the ground before Hershey.

"Alright people," said Geoffery, "Get the bombs ready. We have to blow this factory, pronto!"

Geoffery and his crew ran in the direction of the SWATbot factory, shooting down SWATbots while being shot at themselves along the way.

"Captian," said Hershey, "Why do we need to blow the factory? It seems too risky."

"This whole plan is suicidal!" said Geoffery, "Sally is an idiot. Sonic is an idiot. They are all idiots following that suicidal overlander! And they all think he's from space."

"You don't believe him?" asked Hershey while dodging a stream of bullets.

"Why should I?" Geoffery said, "From space? What kind of idiot would belive that! The guy is probably insane!"

"From what we've seen, it's very possible," said Hershey, "We should debate it later and focus on the mission right now."

"Fine," said Geoffery.

"But back to the point," said Hershey, "I don't think we even have to blow the factory."

"What?"

"We only need to create a diversion, right?" said Hershey, "So if we do a prolonged phony assault on the factory, they will think they are defending the factory. That way they will send more troops and we can make it last longer, buying the others more time!"

"That sounds even more crazy!" said Geoffery, "How do we hold them all off!?"

"We will buy them more time if we do it my way!" said Hershey, "And that is all we need!"

"Is this "alien" overlander, who Robotnik is holding prisoner, even worth all this?!" Geoffery asked.

"The information he holds is crucial," said Hershey while shooting more SWATbots with the ion blaster, "Who knows what Robotnik would do if he learned how to build tech like this?"

"But we could get killed!" said Geoffery, "I am not risking something so dangerous!"

"I'd rather die than let the whole of the Freedom Fighters perish," said Hershey, "Sometimes when you're in war, you need to be prepared to die. Just like what a good leader would do."

"But Hershey!" Geoffery said as Hershey began to walk to confront the SWATbots.

"I'll be needing this," said Hershey as she grabbed a couple of the bombs. "Come on men," said Hershey, "Let's go!"

The other members of the squad followed Hershey much to Geoffery's dismay. He got himself up and dusted himself off and slowly followed. "You've got to be kidding me," he muttered.

Hershey led the group down an alleyway and emerged in front of their target: an active SWATbot factory constantly emitting smoke from it's chimneys, an indication of the production process happening within. The Mobians approached the two SWATbot guards and shot them down with ion blasters.

"The explosives!" said Hershey.

The other Mobians threw Hershey a couple of explosive charges as she dashed for the factory ahead. She avoided the SWATbots and crossfire on the way. As she passed the entrance to the factory, she armed the explosives and tossed them into the dark corridors of the factory's interior.

Hershey ran for cover as the explosives went off. The fireball engulfed a portion of the factory's south flank sending shards of metal flying through the air. The shockwave shook the ground and knocked down the patrol squads in the area.

After the effects of the explosion subsided, Hershey looked to see that a portion of the building had been critically damaged, the rest of the building, however, still looked intact and operational just as Hershey had planned.

"Perfect," said Hershey, "Now they will come to defend the rest of the factory. This new setup should allow us to drag out the fight longer."

"Seems like you've been taking lessons from Sonic," said Geoffery.

"No," said Hershey, "I just want you to get out of your shell and stop thinking about yourself for once."

"Do you always have to take sides, Hershey?" Geoffery asked.

"What are you talking about?" said Hershey, "We are all on the same side. Me, you, and Sonic too."

The alarms around the area began to buzz and an air raid siren awakened to unleash it's howl across the district. The freedom fighters from all around the area heard the siren's wail.

"Brace for it guys!" said Hershey, "They are coming!"

Sally and Luke were the next set of ears the noise of the siren reached. Luke jumped at the sound of the alarm.

"Whats going on?" Luke asked.

"It sounds like the diversion team is getting their part done!" said Sally. Sally pointed to the street on the other side of the alley. "Look!" she said.

Luke looked to see what possibly was battalions of SWATbots run past them. Metal doors opened up on the side of the headquarters to release an additional flood of SWATbots on to the streets to aid the existing forces.

"All SWATbot units to District 12: Sector 7," said a higher-pitched human voice over a loudspeaker, "Repeat, all SWATbot units to District 12: Sector 7. This is not a drill."

"Just wait a little longer," said Sally as the SWATbots were still passing by, "A little longer."

After the squads of SWATbots were done walking by, Sally decided it was safe to proceed. "The coast should be clear!" she said.

The small group went down the alley toward their destination. However, they stopped dead in their tracks when they saw two Robian guards still by the door.

"Damn," said Sally.

"Set the ion blasters from 'Fry' to 'Stun'," Luke said.

"Are you absolutely sure it won't kill them?!" Sally asked.

"Im very positive it won't," said Luke, "It will knock them down for a bit though."

R2 beeped a few times. Nicole translated the astromech droid's binary beeps and clicks for Luke and Sally.

"R2 said that he was shot by an ion blaster on 'stun' once," Nicole said, "By things called 'jawas' on a planet called 'Tatooine'. He woke up a few hours afterward."

"Those must have been the jawas that sold R2 and 3P0 to me and my family in the first place," said Luke.

"What are jawas?" Sally asked.

"Jawas are strange little creatures to say the least," said Luke, "They find droids wandering about, shoot them with an ion blast, then they take them and sell them off."

"Wait," said Sally, "You're saying you bought the droids even though you knew they were STOLEN?"

"Tatooine doesn't really have laws," said Luke, "And you can't really blame us. You have to do what you need in order to survive there."

R2 beeped again.

"R2 said the Jawas use ion blasters set to 'stun' on droids all the time," Nicole translated, "I kindly suggest we take his word for it. He seems to know what he's saying. If he survived, so will the Robians."

"Just wait," said Sally, "What kind of condition do the droids they sell usually come in?"

"The Jawas are not exactly known for good deals," said Luke, "Most of the droids they sell are garbage. The first unit they sold us blew it's memory drive, so we had to get R2."

Sally looked at Luke wide-eyed. "Are you sure the ion blasters won't severely damage the Robians!?"

"Yes I'm sure!" Luke said, "Jawas pick up old droids and don't take care of them! It has nothing to do with ion blasters. The Robians will be fine if we tune our shots properly."

"Are you absolutely...?"

"Yes I'm absolutely sure!" Luke responded, "If I wasn't sure I wouldn't do this! Look, we are wasting time arguing here!"

To Sally's unease Luke twisted the dial and aimed the ion blaster at a Robian guard across the street. Sally's eyes widened. "What are you...?!"

Despite Sally's clear disapproval, Luke fired the blaster. The weapon fired a weak bolt which flew through the air and precisely hit it's target. The Robian emitted buzzing noises and fell to the ground, this time without the electric fireworks show.

Luke quickly took out the other Robian guard. After the guards were down the small group finally made its way across the street. Sally kept an angry glare on Luke.

"What?" asked Luke.

"You probably killed them!" Sally yelled.

"No I didnt!" said Luke, "R2 will even prove it!"

R2 moved next to a fallen Robian and extended his computer probe. He found the main cpu and carefully connected his probe to it. He ran a scan on the robian.

As R2 was scanning the Robian, he emitted a rather disturbing set of whimpers and low-pitched beeps. R2 actually sounded terrified as the scan went on.

"Whats wrong?!" Sally asked with unease.

R2 then emitted a higher-pitched set of beeps.

"R2 said he is detecting normal activity," said Nicole, "The Robian is just in a type of sleep-mode from the blast."

"Then why did he sound so frightened and uneasy a minute ago?" asked Luke.

R2 beeped again.

"Uh," said Nicole, "R2 said it was... Nothing. Everything's fine."

"Good," said Sally.

Nicole knew R2 was lying about the last part. R2 obviously was terrified of whatever he had picked up while scanning the Robian. She decided to not ask about it now and focus on the mission at hand.

"Do your thing, R2," said Luke.

R2 moved over to the control pannel. He deployed a few utensils to pick the pannel apart and get to it's main control systems. Once again, R2 extended his computer probe and hooked it up to the control system and inserted the codes.

"Your little friend is really handy," said Sally.

"Yep," said Luke, "Dont know what I'd do without him."

R2 completed inserting the codes into the first pannel and did the same to the second.

"He really can do a lot," said Sally, "He's a whole squad by himself."

"You'd be surprised by how right you are," said Luke.

"Why do I get the feeling I am getting replaced?" Nicole muttered.

R2 beeped and looked at Nicole.

"That was a joke," Nicole stated.

R2 went back to entering the codes as Sally giggled a little bit. "But seriously," said Sally, "I wouldn't dream of replacing you."

"Thanks," Nicole said, "I apreciate that."

As soon as R2 was finished entering the codes, the security doors to the building opened up. The small team prepared to walk inside. Sally pulled out her communicator again and contacted Sonic. "Sonic," she said, "Get that power grid down NOW."

"We are almost there, Sally," Sonic's voice said back.

"Well be quick," said Sally. Sally shut off the device and looked out into the streets. They could still hear the siren wailing in the distance.

"So Sally," said Luke, "What if we fail to save Wedge? Do you have a backup plan?"

Sally looked down. "If we can not save him," she said, "We will have to kill him."

"KILL HIM!?" Luke looked at Sally with disbelief. R2 even stopped what he was doing and emitted a few shocked beeps. "Why the hell would you say that!?" Luke demanded.

"I do not WANT to kill him!" Sally said, "But if he gets roboticized and Robotnik learns how to make your technology, our whole movement is doomed!"

"I can NOT let wedge DIE!" Luke said.

"That is why we must hurry once we are inside!" said Sally.

Luke wanted to say something back, but he couldn't think of anything to say. The team now stood silent, waiting to proceed.

Meanwhile a mile to the west, the sound of the siren fell faintly on the ears of Sonic and Bunnie. The blue hedgehog and cyborg rabbit were now in the vicinity of their target, a power station that was linked directly to the main HQ.

"Alright Bunnie," said Sonic, "It is now our time to shine!"

"Right, Suga," said Bunnie.

Once the power station was in view they immediately saw that it was surrounded by an electric fence. They also noticed the unusual lack of SWATbots or patrol robians in the area.

"Where are all the bots?" Bunnie asked.

"Probably all distracted by Skunkbrain's assault," said Sonic, "But still expect a few patrols."

"Right," said Bunnie, "But what are we going to do about the fence?"

"Don't worry," said Sonic, "I have an idea."

"What would that be?" Bunnie asked.

The two began to get shot at by a small squad of SWATbots that aproached from around another building.

"I will tell you in a minute," said Sonic.

Sonic ran towards the SWATbots and smashed them to pieces with his spindash. Shards of metal flew through the air the moment Sonic impacted the SWATbots, quickly reducing the foes to a scrap heap.

Sonic walked back up to bunnie while dusting off his hands. "These ion blaster things are nice," said Sonic, "But nothing beats trashing bots with my own two hands."

"Right," said Bunnie, "But what was the plan of yours?"

"I was thinking that maybe we could bypass the fence somehow," said Sonic.

"Maybe the ion blasters can short it out," said Bunnie.

"I don't think so," said Sonic, "From what I have seen these things are probably most effective against concentrated electronics like a SWATbot's systems."

"Then what do you propose?" said Bunnie, "But please hurry. Sally and the others are all counting on us!"

"Bunnie," said Sonic, "Tear down that lamp post and lean it up NEAR the fence but not ON it. Leaning it on that concrete wall should do."

"You got it!" said Bunnie. She walked over to the lamppost and used the saw strength of her cybernetic limb to uproot it as if it were a weed in a garden. She hauled the heavy metal pole over to the concrete wall, placing it down and leaning it up against the wall like Sonic instructed.

"Good to go!" said Sonic as he took a running start and ran up the placed lamppost. He cleared the fence. After clearing the fence, Sonic dashed about within the small power station, using his spindash to deal heavy damage to the facility. Sparks and arcing bolts of electricity lit up the station as power lines and transformers were being destroyed.

Sonic climbed a tower and jumped back over the fence as the power station turned into a violent fireworks show. Sonic grabbed Bunnie and ran her to safety as the small facility shorted out an exploded. The loss of power and resulting EMP from the explosion caused nearly the entirety of the central district of Robotropolis to go black.

"Hurry!" Sally said while waving her hand. She ran into the main building, Luke and R2 followed behind her.

"Where are we going?" Luke asked.

"Once we get to our first checkpoint I will explain!" said Sally, "We need to clear this area before the emergency generators kick in!"

"Right," said Luke as they ran down the darkened hallways, only lit by the dim red emission of emergency lights.

"POWER FAILURE. POWER FAILURE," repeated an intercom recording, presumably running on some sort of backup power. "STARTING BACKUP GENERATORS."

"How much time do we have?" said Luke.

"About 15 seconds to bypass the main security mainframe!" Sally replied. The two sprinted as fast as they could. However, R2 couldn't keep up.

"R2!" said Luke as he was running off with Sally.

R2 beeped back.

"R2, do what you can to help," said Luke, "Just stay out of huge trouble."

Luke and Sally turned around a corner and were gone from R2's sight. The astromech droid proceeded to go down a random hallway, vanishing into the shadows.

A loud buzzer and red light flashed in the large central chamber which served as Robotnik's personal control and throne room. The large, deformed man looked back and forth and gritted his teeth in anger.

"SNIVLEY!" Robotnik yelled, "What on Mobius is happening, Snivley?"

"We have lost power to the entire central district," said Snivley as he was looking over a monitor powered by a backup battery, "Seems to be caused by a disruption in power station 5-B. We are still trying to find the cause of the incident."

Robotnik's eye implants lit up with frustration. "Isn't it obvious, Snivley?" the tyrannical doctor said, "It is those miserable Freedom Fighters!"

"I will get all power back online as soon as possible," said Snivley as he started pressing buttons.

"You very well better!" said Robotnik, "And once you do, retrieve all dispatched units!"

"But sir," Snivley said, "What about the attack on the SWATbot factory?"

Robotnik threw a piece of metal at Snivley which barely missed the short man's head. "You idiot, Snivley," Robotnik said, "Can't you clearly see that it is a _diversion_?"

"I.. I will get right on it sir!" said Snivley.

"Now what are those miserable furballs truly after?" Robotnik pondered.

"Sir," said Snivley, "The backup generator is online, we are restoring power to all systems."

"Good," said Robotnik, "Turn all the security cameras an systems back on!"

The lights, now powered by the backup generators, sparked back to life and lit up the corridors of the central district once more. The lights in the room came back on, and the monitors started to re-connect to the security cams as well.

The monitors turned to static and slowly faded away to images as the security cameras gradually came online. In one of the monitors, Robotnik saw something that caught his eye.

He saw two individuals, Sally Acorn, and another that he identified as an overlander, running through the hallways.

"Whats this?" Robotnik said curiously, "A mobian working with an overlander?"

"By the looks of it, sir," said Snivley.

"He must be here for his pathetic friend," said Robotnik, "Get the Roboticizer running and bring the overlander prisoner now!"

"But he's not scheduled to be Roboticized until..." Snivley said, getting cut off.

"I don't care!" said Robotnik, "I'm weeding out the cause of this problem! Now get him at once!"

"Right away, sir," said Snivley.


End file.
